Ultra-Stable Aqueous Zinc-Metal Batteries Achieved via Bio-Inspired Buffer Additive Engineering

The inherent safety, low cost, and eco-friendliness of aqueous zinc-metal batteries (AZMBs) make them prime contenders for large-scale energy storage. Their development is, nevertheless, hindered by serious side reactions and uneven zinc deposition, which degrade Coulombic efficiency (CE) and cycle life. Herein, a bio-inspired buffer engineering strategy is reported utilizing TAPSO, a multi-functional biological buffer. TAPSO orchestrates zinc-ion coordination chemistry to attenuate water reactivity, significantly suppressing hydrogen evolution and corrosion. Moreover, it constructs a protective anode-electrolyte interphase while reorganizing hydrogen-bond networks, which jointly inhibit dendritic growth and deleterious byproduct formation. This approach enables an unprecedented cycling lifespan of over 2 200 h for Zn||Zn symmetric cells and a high average CE of 99.72% over 1 200 cycles for Zn||Cu half-cells. Remarkably, Zn||NH₄V₄O₁₀ full cells retain 94.1% capacity after 2 000 cycles. The practicality of this strategy is further demonstrated by a pouch cell that stably delivers nearly 40 mAh for 50 cycles. This study establishes a transformative paradigm for enabling advanced AZMBs in sustainable energy storage systems.