Uniformly dispersed zinc-tin alloy as high-performance anode for aqueous zinc ion batteries

Uncontrolled dendrite and side reactions of aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) hinder their commercial application. To overcome these obstacles, a novel zinc alloy anode for multifunctional AZIBs was designed by incorporating metal elements into the zinc anode. The metal elements are intended to improve the overall electrochemical performance of the battery by solving the zinc anode problem in an "incorporation" manner. In this study, the effect of Sn-induced surface structure reconstruction on the diffusion and deposition behavior of Zn2 + was investigated using binary zinc alloy (Zn@Sn) as a zinc anode. The zinc anode with Zn (002) crystal plane as the preferred crystal plane was able to inhibit the disordered growth of zinc dendrites, and the introduction of Sn elements enhanced the anti-hydrogen evolution reaction ability of the zinc anode. At a current density of 1.2 mA cm-2 , the Zn@Sn symmetric cell was able to maintain stable operation for 10 0 0 h, demonstrating a more prominent deposition/stripping stability. This work provides a promising strategy and new insights into the design of electrolyte-anode interfacial protection. (c) 2025 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.