With the fast development of large-scale energy storage, aqueous Zn-based rechargeable batteries have attracted more and more attention because of their high-level safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness. The Zn metal anode is fascinating for aqueous Zn-based rechargeable batteries due to its high volume-specific capacity (5855 mA h cm-3), low negative potential (-0.762 V vs standard hydrogen electrode), and abundant resources. However, the practical application of the Zn metal anode is hindered by the challenge of serious dendrite growth. To address this, herein, we report a highly reversible and anticorrosive Zn anode enabled by a Ag nanowires (AgNWs) layer. By effectively lowering the nucleation overpotential and providing a high specific surface area to construct abundant sites inducing Zn uniform deposition, the designed Zn-AgNWs anode could ensure dendrite-free deposition to improve the reversibility (600 h at 2 mA h cm-2). During cycling, Zn deposition on the AgNWs surface drives the in situ formation of the AgZn3 alloy to constitute a natural protective layer, which can prevent the direct corrosion reaction between Zn and the electrolyte. Thus, the Zn-AgNWs|MnO2 full cell exhibits excellent electrochemical performance with large specific capacity and outstanding rate capability and retains a high capacity retention at 0.6 A g-1 even after 800 cycles.
Keywords: AgNWs layer; AgZn3 alloy; Zn metal anode; aqueous rechargeable batteries; interface modification.