Volume 64, Issue 28 e202501960
Research Article

Unveiling Zinc Stripping and Molecular Engineering for High-Performance Zinc Anode

Zeping Liu

Zeping Liu

State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resources and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

Both authors contributed equally to this work.

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Guangning Xu

Guangning Xu

State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resources and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

Both authors contributed equally to this work.

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Yu Zhang

Corresponding Author

Yu Zhang

Department of Chemistry, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 10691 Sweden

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

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Meng Li

Meng Li

State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resources and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

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Haoran Li

Haoran Li

State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resources and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

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Jiachi Zhang

Jiachi Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resources and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

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Jie Hu

Jie Hu

State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resources and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

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Tiesong Lin

Corresponding Author

Tiesong Lin

State Key Laboratory of Precision Welding & Joining of Materials and Structures, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

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Naiqing Zhang

Corresponding Author

Naiqing Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Urban-rural Water Resources and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

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First published: 07 May 2025

Graphical Abstract

It is found that the zinc stripping process is more prone to cause severe side reactions than the deposition process, resulting in the formation of dendrites and “dead zinc.” In this regard, a dynamic molecular protection strategy is proposed to regulate the zinc stripping and deposition processes simultaneously, achieving long-lasting protection of the zinc anodes.

Abstract

The unstable zinc anode is a key challenge limiting the cycle life of rechargeable zinc-ion batteries. The current research primarily focuses on the zinc plating process, with strategies to induce uniform zinc deposition for a stable zinc anode. Here, we demonstrate that the zinc stripping process has a more significant impact on the subsequent zinc deposition, which exacerbates the formation of by-products, dendrites, and “dead zinc.” Therefore, we propose using aspartyl-phenylalanine methyl ester (APM) molecules to regulate the zinc stripping, achieving uniform stripping of the zinc anode by increasing the stripping overpotential across high-energy barriers. Simultaneously, its localized hydrophobic functional groups effectively inhibit the byproducts triggered by solvated water molecules. The experimental results show that the Zn-APM symmetric cell exhibits excellent cycling stability, with stable cycling over 6500 h (>9 months) at 1 mA cm−2 for 1 mAh cm−2 and 700 h at 70% zinc utilization with 10 µm zinc. In addition, the Zn-APM||Zn0.58V2O5·H2O full cell exhibits 80% capacity retention after 500 cycles at a loading of 8.1 mg cm−2.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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