Uniform nucleation enabled by confinement effect for dendrite-free Zn anode

The severe dendrites have been considered longstanding plaguing to the high energy density batteries using Zn metal anode. Here, the Zn foil treated by rapid cooling in water after annealing can promote uniform Zn nucleation on its surface which can alleviate the formation of Zn dendrites is discovered. Especially, the point that microscopic morphology and defect cluster caused by the quenching in the Zn metal anode can restrain the surface diffusion of the adsorbed-state Zn atoms which is beneficial to uniform Zn nucleation is proposed. Therefore, the resultant Zn anode achieves sustained ultra-stability in cycling performance (over 1700 h) at 2 mA cm−2 for 1 mAh cm−2 in the symmetric cell and the long-term cycling performance with a discharge capacity of 126.2 mAh g−1 after 1100 cycles at 1 A g−1 in the MnO2 full cell. Our work merges the traditional preparation technology of metal to provide a general pathway toward energy-dense metal batteries.