Advances and strategies in electrolyte regulation for aqueous zinc-based batteries

In recent years, the development of aqueous zinc-based secondary batteries has received extensive attention and investigation. However, before actual commercialization, several key issues need to be resolved, such as the narrow electrochemical window, dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, passivation, and other side reactions. These problems can be alleviated by regulating the composition and structure of electrolytes; however, few detailed discussions and reviews on relevant strategies have been reported. In this review, we introduce the core challenges observed with electrolyte and the zinc anode/electrolyte interface in terms of the mechanism and influencing factors and systematically evaluate the strategies for improving the interface behaviour of zinc anodes, which are divided into three paths, namely, guiding uniform zinc deposition, regulating solvation structure, and constructing an artificial interface layer. In the final section, existing deficiencies and promising methods to promote the further development of aqueous zinc-based battery electrolytes are summarized.