Anti-solvent strategy promoting (002) texture and suppressing side reactions for an ultra-stable zinc anode

In aqueous electrolytes, the stability of the zinc anode is threatened by severe dendrite growth and the hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, diethylene glycol (DEG) is used as an anti-solvent agent to address the abovementioned issues and boost the reversibility of the zinc anode. The DEG has a strong affinity to the Zn anode, thereby steering dominant (002)-textured zinc growth without dendrites. Multiple spectroscopic techniques, theoretical calculations, and molecular dynamics simulation have demonstrated that DEG can reconstruct the solvation sheath of Zn2+ and reduce the amount of active H2O to suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction. This anti-solvent strategy enables the stable cycle life of Zn-Zn cells over 4,200 h, and the Zn-Cu cells deliver a high average coulombic efficiency >99.75% for 1,100 cycles (>2,000 h). Accordingly, zinc-activated carbon full batteries operated steadily for 19,000 cycles (>3 months). This work provides a new anti-solvent strategy for achieving high-stability zinc anodes by inducing (002)-texture growth through electrolyte modification.