Stabilizing zinc powder anodes via bifunctional MXene towards flexible zinc-ion batteries

Flexible zinc (Zn) batteries have gained considerable attention as wearable energy storage devices because of their inherent safety and high theoretical capacity. However, conventional Zn anodes suffer from dendrite growth, high rigidity, and poor cycling stability issues, hindering their practical application in flexible zinc-ion batteries. Herein, a dendrite-free and flexible Zn anode is designed using direct ink writing (DIW) printed MXene as a flexible and highly conductive current collector and MXene-wrapped Zn powder (ZnP) as the active material by carefully optimising the rheological properties of MXene-based dispersion. As a result, the synergistic effects of the MXene-based current collector and the MXene protective layer promoted dendrite-free Zn deposition and prevented side reactions, achieving an outstanding cycling performance that exceeded 130 h at a high depth of discharge of 30%. When paired with a Vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅)-based cathode, the flexible full cell demonstrated stable electrochemical performance under mechanical deformation and can power electronic devices, presenting a promising pathway for the development of flexible zinc-ion batteries.