Forming an in-situ metal-organic protective layer enables highly stable zinc anode

Severe dendrite growth, the occurrence of side reactions, and hydrogen evolution can deteriorate the reversibility of Zn plating/stripping. Therefore, we immersed the Zn metal in an alcoholic solution of lauric acid, in-situ generating the zinc laurate layer to alleviate the challenges posed by the above problem. The different alkanoic acids form interfacial layers can effectively regulate the hydrophobicity of the Zn surface and affect the transport of Zn²⁺. Firstly, the zinc laurate layer inhibits the direct contact of active water with the Zn surface, thus preventing the occurrence of side reactions and hydrogen evolution. At the same time, the zoophilic sites of zinc laurate can induce the uniform deposition of Zn and inhibit the growth of Zn dendrites. Thus, the Zn@LA anode is able to cycle stably for more than 2000 h at 5 mA cm^-2, 1 mAh cm^-2. Even at a high depth of discharge of 57 %, the Zn@LA symmetric cell can still maintain a cycle life of 180 h. The Zn@LA//MnO₂ full cell can be cycled stably for 950 cycles at 1 A g^-1 with a capacity retention of 81.8 %. This work provides another insight to improve the cycling stability of zinc ion batteries.