Construct Robust Epitaxial Growth of (101) Textured Zinc Metal Anode for Long Life and High Capacity in Mild Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

Aqueous zinc-metal batteries are considered to have the potential for energy storage due to their high safety and low cost. However, the practical applications of zinc batteries are limited by dendrite growth and side reactions. Epitaxial growth is considered an effective method for stabilizing Zn anode, especially for manipulating the (002) plane of deposited zinc. However, (002) texture zinc is difficult to achieve stable cycle at high capacity due to its large lattice distortion and uneven electric field distribution. Here, a novel zinc anode with highly (101) texture (denoted as (101)-Zn) is constructed. Due to unique directional guidance and strong bonding effect, (101)-Zn can achieve dense vertical electroepitaxy in near-neutral electrolytes. In addition, the low grain boundary area inhibits the occurrence of side reactions. The resultant (101)-Zn symmetric cells exhibit excellent stability over 5300 h (4 mA cm⁻² for 2 mAh cm⁻²) and 330 h (15 mA cm⁻² for 10 mAh cm⁻²). Meanwhile, the cycle life of Zn//MnO₂ full cell is meaningfully improved over 1000 cycles.