Towards advanced zinc anodes by interfacial modification strategies for efficient aqueous zinc metal batteries

Developing sustainable and clean energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, and tide energy) is essential to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Due to the discontinuous and inconsistent nature of common clean energy sources, high-performance energy storage technologies are a critical part of achieving this target. Aqueous zinc metal batteries (AZMBs) with inherent safety, low cost, and competitive performance are regarded as one of the promising candidates for grid-scale energy storage. However, zinc metal anodes (ZMAs) with irreversible problems of dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution reaction, self-corrosion, and other side reactions have seriously hindered the development and commercialization of AZMBs. An increasing number of researchers are focusing on the stability of ZMAs, so assessing the effectiveness of existing research strategies is critical to the development of AZMBs. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals and challenges of AZMBs. Research strategies for interfacial modification of ZMAs are systematically presented. The features of artificial interfacial coating and in-situ interfacial coating of ZMAs are compared and discussed in detail, as well as the effect of modified interfacial ZMA on the full-battery performance. Finally, perspectives are provided on the problems and challenges of ZMAs. This review is expected to offer a constructive reference for the further development and commercialization of AZMBs.