Challenges and Design Strategies for Stable Zinc Anodes in Rechargeable Zinc Batteries

Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are increasingly recognized as promising candidates for large-scale energy storage due to their high energy density, safety, low cost, and the natural abundance of zinc. However, the widespread adoption of ZIBs is limited by fundamental issues associated with the zinc metal anode, including dendrite formation, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), passivation, self-corrosion, and poor cycling stability. In recent years, substantial efforts have been made to address these challenges through approaches such as 3D current collector design, alloying, surface modification, and electrolyte engineering. This review provides a systematic, Zn-anode-focused summary of these advances, with emphasis on structural engineering, interface stabilization, and electrolyte tailoring to improve Zn²⁺ deposition behavior. Uniquely, this work integrates recent progress in advanced characterization techniques such as in situ/operando imaging and spectroscopy, to provide deeper insights into the failure mechanism of Zn anode materials. These details are critical in real-time probing of interfacial and morphological evolutions upon charge/discharge. Finally, the review outlines the key future research directions are proposed to support the development of durable and high-performance Zn-based energy storage systems.