Recently, Shanguo Ji, a Master degree candidate from the College of Chemistry and Material Science of Shandong Agricultural University, as the first author, published the latest achievement in the international authoritative journal Energy Storage Materials (JCR/Q1/TOP, IF=20.831), entitled A mechanically durable hybrid hydrogel electrolyte developed by controllable accelerated polymerization mechanism towards reliable aqueous zinc-ion battery. Prof. Yuanyuan Hu, Prof. Kai Yang and Prof. Jing Xu are the corresponding authors of the article, and Shandong Agricultural University is the only corresponding unit.

With the flourishing of the flexible electronics field, the demand potential of wearable smart devices is becoming more and more prominent, thus putting higher requirements on the structural stability and electrochemical stability of hydrogel electrolytes during physical deformation. However, there is still challenging to develop tough and economical hydrogel electrolytes due to complex mechanical deformation, time-consuming and energy-consuming preparation processes. Recently, Prof. Yuanyuan Hu, Prof. Kai Yang and Prof. Jing Xu from the Green Materials and Green Energy Group of Shandong Agricultural University innovatively proposed a controllable accelerated polymerization (CAP) mechanism to achieve rapid and controllable preparation of hydrogel electrolytes through rational design of electrolyte and electrolyte concentration, which has many intrinsic advantages such as effectively reducing energy and time consumption in the preparation of hydrogel electrolytes, saving production cost, and solving the agglomeration problem of nanomaterials during slow gelation process. The mechanical strength of the composite hydrogel electrolyte is significantly enhanced by the rigid skeleton structure of Na-montmorillonite and the plasticizing effect of high concentration of ZnSO₄. The combination of mechanical enhancement and organic-inorganic composite transport channels effectively inhibits Zn dendrite growth and achieves stable cycling of Zn//NaV₃O₈·1.5H₂O batteries. The CAP mechanism based on hydrogel electrolyte in this work has great application prospect and industrial value.

First Author Information

Shanguo Ji: A Master degree candidate from the College of Chemistry and Material Science of Shandong Agricultural University. He received his bachelor degree (2021) from Shandong Agricultural University. In 2021 to now, he studied in Prof. Kai Yang and Prof. Jing Xu group. He obtained the first place in graduate entrance examination in 2021, and was selected for the Innovative Talent Training program of this university. Up to now, he has published one article as the first author in Energy Storage Mater and applied for one national invention patent. His research interests are in design of hydrogel electrolytes and development of flexible energy storage devices.

About the Corresponding Authors

Yuanyuan Hu: Yuanyuan Hu, associate Professor from Shandong Agricultural University, received her Ph.D. from Shandong University in 2018. Her research interests focus on the development of hydrogel materials and their applications in the field of electrochemical energy storage. She presided over 4 fundings such as National Natural Science Foundation of China, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. She has published more than 10 articles in Energy Storage Mater., ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Chem. Eur. J., Adv. Energy Mater. etc. as first author or corresponding author, and applied for one national invention patent.

Kai Yang: Kai Yang, Professor from Shandong Agricultural University, received his Ph.D. from Sun Yet-sen University in 2018. His research interests are in the design and application of cluster materials (e.g. Polyoxometalates, MOFs) for electrochemical energy storage & conversion such as zinc batteries and lithium batteries. He has presided over 5 fundings such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Incubation Program of Youth Innovation in Shandong Province. He has supervised 2 programs of the National College Students' Innovative Entrepreneurial Training, which won the first prize at the provincial level and was personally awarded as an excellent supervisor. He has published more than 10 articles in Adv. Energy Mater., Energy Storage Mater. and Nano Energy, etc. as first author or corresponding author, and has applied for 4 national invention patents, including 2 granted patents.

Jing Xu: Jing Xu, associate dean of College of Chemistry and Material Science, director of Key laboratory of Agricultural Film Application of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, team leader of Green Materials and Green Energy Group and Professor from Shandong Agricultural University, received her Ph.D. from Sun Yet-sen University. Her research directions focus on functional polymer materials. She has presided over 7 scientific research fundings including the National Key Research and Development Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China and Provincial Key Research and Development Program. She has published more than 50 articles as first author or corresponding author in Environ. Sc. Technol. and Energy Storage Mater，etc. She has been authorized 11 national invention patents, 3 PCT international patents, and developed 5 local standards.