In-situ Construction and Performance Study of ZnCu-ZIF Zinc Anode Protective Layer

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have garnered significant attention owing to their merits of high safety, high theoretical specific capacity, low cost, and environmental benignity. However, irreversible challenges posed by side reactions and dendrite growth on zinc anodes have impeded their commercial deployment in large-scale energy storage applications. In this paper, a ZnCu-ZIF protective layer was in-situ grown on Zn foil through simple redox and coordination reactions to address the above issues. The protective layer efficiently isolates the anode surface from the aqueous electrolyte, thereby curbing severe parasitic reactions. Additionally, it facilitates uniform Zn deposition and mitigates dendrite growth. The findings indicate that the ZnCu-ZIF@Zn-1h symmetric cell maintains stable cycling for 2600 hours at 1 mA cm⁻² and 1 mAh cm⁻², demonstrating exceptional cycle stability. In addition, the ZnCu-ZIF@Zn-1h||MnO₂ full cell has a high specific capacity of 285.6 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ and demonstrates excellent rate performance. Meanwhile, it retains 82.9% of its initial capacity after 1000 cycles at 1 A g⁻¹, exemplifying outstanding electrochemical durability. This work thus provides a novel paradigm for the facile scalable fabrication of highly reversible Zn metal anodes, highlighting significant potential for practical implementation.