Interfacial Manipulation via In Situ Grown ZnSe Cultivator toward Highly Reversible Zn Metal Anodes

Zn metal anode has garnered growing scientific and industrial interest owing to its appropriate redox potential, low cost, and high safety. Nevertheless, the instability of Zn anode caused by dendrite formation, hydrogen evolution, and side reactions has greatly hampered its commercialization. Herein, an in situ grown ZnSe overlayer is crafted over one side of commercial Zn foil via chemical vapor deposition in a scalable manner, aiming to achieve optimized electrolyte/Zn interfaces with large-scale viability. Impressively, thus-derived ZnSe coating functions as a cultivator to guide oriented growth of Zn (002) plane at the infancy stage of stripping/plating cycles, thereby inhibiting the formation of Zn dendrites and the occurrence of side reactions. As a result, high cyclic stability (1530 h at 1.0 mA cm^-2 /1.0 mAh cm^-2 ; 172 h at 30.0 mA cm^-2 /10.0 mAh cm^-2 ) in symmetric cells is harvested. Meanwhile, when paired with V₂ O₅ based cathode, assembled full cell achieves an outstanding capacity (194.5 mAh g^-1 ) and elongated lifespan (a capacity retention of 84% after 1000 cycles) at 5.0 A g^-1 . The reversible Zn anode enabled by the interfacial manipulation strategy via ZnSe cultivator is anticipated to satisfy the demand of commercial use.