Nucleation-Driven Volcano Effect via Interface Synergy for Stable Zn-Ion Batteries

The commercial viability of aqueous Zn-ion batteries is hindered by dendrite growth and parasitic side reactions. Natural amino acid-inspired additives with tailored adsorption-coordination synergy present a promising strategy to regulate Zn electrodeposition. Herein, we systematically investigated six C4-chain molecules with distinct functional groups and established a volcano-shaped relationship between adsorption-coordination interactions and electrochemical performance. Succinamic acid (SuaA), which has balanced adsorption and coordination strengths, induces 3D-progressive nucleation and (002)-textured growth via a nucleation-driven volcano mechanism that minimizes interfacial charge transfer resistance. The optimized Zn||Zn symmetric cell achieves an ultra-long cycle stability of 7500 hours, and can operate stably for 500 hours even at a discharge depth of about 85.5%. The Zn||Cu asymmetric cell demonstrates a Coulombic efficiency of 99.75%, and Zn||NaV3O8·1.5H₂O full cell retains >80% capacity after 400 cycles at an actual N/P ratio of 3.66. This work establishes a universal design principle balancing adsorption-coordination interplay for dendrite-free AZIBs.