ZnO Nanoparticle Assisted Liquid Metal for Dendrite-Free Zn Metal Anodes

Dendrite growth and interfacial side reactions on Zn anode seriously affect the safety and service life of Zn ions batteries. Interface engineering is an effective way to solve these problems. Here, a liquid metal-ZnO composite coating with high ionic conductivity is creatively designed, which not only reduces the Zn²⁺ diffusion barrier but also increases the hydrogen evolution overpotential, thereby eliminating dendrite growth behavior and corrosion on the modified Zn anode. Moreover, its unique structure induces Zn deposition into the inner of coating, which can effectively avoid the volume expansion in the deposit layer of Zn anode. Therefore, it can cycle for 3 000 h at an ultra-small polarization of 28 mV at 1 mA cm^-2, and the microbattery assembled in combination with the MnO₂ cathode also maintains 2 000 cycles with high Coulomb efficiency, providing a general idea for the development of the next generation of rechargeable metal batteries.