Sn Protective Layer via Electroless Manufacturing for Stable Zinc Metal Batteries

Abstract Aqueous zinc metal battery is facing the challenges of zinc dendrite growth, zinc anode corrosion, and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Here, we prepared an artificial interface layer by the electroless precipitation method, in which Ni, Sn, and Ag layers were uniformly grown on Cu foil for dendritic‐free aqueous zinc batteries. Dendrite growth and side reactions were inhibited by inducing uniform Zn deposition, among which Sn‐modified Cu electrode (Sn@Cu) showed the best electrochemical performance because of its highest Zn 2+ diffusion and corrosion inhibition ability. The Sn@Cu symmetrical battery delivers a cycle life of over 1100 h at a current density of 1 mA cm −2 , and maintains an ultralow overpotential of 54 mV.