Cerebral Cortex Inspired Bio-Interface Engineering: Fast Zn Ions Reaction Kinetics for Low-Temperature Energy Storage.

Abstract

Carbon-based aqueous zinc-ion batteries (CAZBs) require stable operation under extremely low temperatures for practical applications, but they are hindered by sluggish Zn² ⁺ transport within the diffusion layer and desolvation barriers in the Helmholtz layer. Here, a bio-inspired interface engineering strategy-derived from the high-volume, high-speed, and high-efficiency signal processing capability of the cerebral cortex-is employed to construct hierarchical carbon spheres with sulcus-gyrus architectures (HCSs-sg). Such HCSs-sg can effectively imitate the dense neuron distribution in the cerebral cortex and lead to a sharp increase in pseudocapacitive active sites. This biomimetic configuration generates directional micro-electric fields and ionic concentration gradients, which synergistically accelerate Zn² ⁺ transport through diffusion-driven migration and coulombic forces. Simultaneously, the high-curvature sulcus-gyrus exhibits enhanced Zn² ⁺ adsorption energy and reduced desolvation barriers, thereby facilitating efficient desolvation and rapid charge transfer at subzero temperatures. As a result, the optimized product delivers a specific capacity of 70 mAh g^- ¹ at 0.1 A g^- ¹ under -25°C and maintains a stable coulombic efficiency of nearly 100% over 10 000 cycles at 1 A g^- ¹. This biomimetic interface engineering approach can provide a potential design route for aqueous battery applications under extreme-temperature conditions.