In Situ Bi2O3 Reduction-Derived Zincophilic Sites Facilitate Highly Reversible Zinc Powder Anode

Abstract

Zn powder integrating a tunable structure and controllable components is an ideal anode candidate for aqueous zinc–metal batteries (AZMBs), but inhomogeneous Zn plating/stripping remains a challenge in achieving highly stable Zn powder anodes. Here, the Zn powder anode with in situ reduction-derived high zincophilic sites of Bi metal was proposed. The in situ transformation to Bi not only improves the conductivity of the entire anode but also provides abundant and uniform nucleation sites for Zn²⁺/Zn plating/stripping, enhancing the interfacial reaction kinetics. This also ensures Zn(002) orientation deposition at zincophilic sites, avoiding the deterioration by dendrites. As a result, the symmetric cell assembled by this anode exhibited a stable cycle of over 400 h at 1 mA cm^–2-1 mAh cm^–2. The full cell coupled with the NH₄V₄O₁₀ cathode also achieved a specific capacity of 302.3 mAh g^–1 at 5 A g^–1 and 70% capacity retention after 500 cycles. This work provides insights into the development of highly stable Zn powder-based anodes and high-performance AZMBs.