Rechargeable aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) represent a promising technology for large-scale energy storage due to their high capacity, intrinsic safety and low cost. However, Zn anodes suffer from poor reversibility and cycling stability caused by the side-reactions and dendrite issues, which limit the Zn utilization in the ZIBs. Herein, to improve the durability of Zn under high utilization, an aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) interphase is presented. The AZO interphase inhibits side reactions by isolating active Zn from the bulk electrolyte, and enables facile and uniform Zn deposition kinetics by accelerating the desolvation of hydrated Zn2+ and homogenizing the electric field distribution. Accordingly, the AZO-coated Zn (AZO@Zn) anode exhibits a long lifespan of 600 h with Zn utilization of 34.1% at the current density of 10 mA cm-2 . Notably, even under ultrahigh Zn utilization of 80%, the AZO@Zn remains stable cycling over 200 h. Meanwhile, the V2 O5 /AZO@Zn full cell with limited Zn excess displays high capacity retention of 86.8% over 500 cycles at 2 A g-1 . This work provides a simple and efficient strategy to ensure the reversibility and durability of Zn anodes under high utilization conditions, holding a great promise for commercially available ZIBs with competitive energy density.
Keywords: Zn-ion batteries; aluminum-doped zinc oxide; cycling stability; ultrahigh Zn utilization; zinc metal anodes.
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