Minimizing Zn Loss Through Dual Regulation for Reversible Zinc Anode Beyond 90% Utilization Ratio

Large-scale energy storage devices experience explosive development in response to the increasing energy crisis. Zinc ion batteries featuring low cost, high safe, and environment friendly are considered promising candidates for next-generation energy storage devices. However, their practical application suffers from the limited anode lifespan under a high zinc utilization ratio, which can be attributed to aggravated Zn loss caused by zinc conversion reactions and "dead" Zn. Herein, n-propyl alcohol is reported to stabilize the Zn anode under the high depth of discharge through dual regulation of water activity inhibition and zinc-ion plating regulation. The modified electrolyte exhibits a 76.43% cut in corrosion current benefited from low water activity and benefits SEI surface. The "dead" Zn content is also reduced by 26 times as a result of dendrite-free zinc ion plating. Thus, the highly reversible zinc plating/stripping with 99.62% CE is achieved for ≈3600 cycles. Moreover, the lifespan of Zn/Zn cells is greatly increased even under a high depth of discharge (310 h, 90%DOD and 120 h, 95.18% DOD). In Zn/NH₄V₄O₁₀ full cells, the improved anode reversibility enables a remarkable capacity retention of 92.16% after 400 cycles with a low N/P ratio of 2.5.