Inhibition of zinc dendrite growth by a preferential crystal surface modulation strategy

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are pivotal in advancing energy storage systems and contributing to global electrification due to their high safety and low cost. However, the development of AZIBs is limited by the several challenges originating from the anode/electrolyte interface such as dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution reactions, and Zn corrosion. Compared to traditional methods which stabilize the interface by constructing artificial/in-situ formed interphases, we propose a novel method to selectively adjust the array of stripes on the Zn surface without altering the chemical composition. Considering that Zn (002) promotes the uniform deposition of Zn while Zn (100) is generally more stable and less reactive, adjusting the ratio of active Zn (002) to Zn (100) can significantly enhance the stability and reversibility of Zn metal. With the AS treatment of 20 minutes, the ratio between Zn (002) to Zn (100) is around 0.93, which exhibits the best electrochemical performance and enables the Zn//Zn symmetric battery to cycle over 2200 hours at 2 mA cm⁻² and 1 mAh cm⁻². The full cell AS-20//MnO₂ had capacity retention of 41.4 % after 600 cycles under a current density of 0.5 A g⁻¹, whereas that of bare Zn//MnO₂ was less than 14.5 %.