Synergistic Texture Engineering and Grain-Boundary Stabilization for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries With Ultralong...

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as attractive candidates for large-scale energy storage owing to their high safety, low cost, and high theoretical capacity. However, the development of zinc anodes is severely constrained by dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution, and corrosion, issues that become particularly pronounced under high current densities and large areal capacities. Although constructing Zn anodes dominated by the (002) plane and introducing metal species into grain boundaries (GBs) can enhance corrosion resistance, single-element modification often fails to simultaneously achieve effective electronic regulation and mechanical stability, thereby limiting further performance improvement. To address this challenge, a synergistic GB reinforcement strategy using a SnPb alloy is proposed, along with a comparative platform including commercial Zn foil, interfacial-layer-protected Zn anodes, and GB-reinforced Zn anodes. Owing to the synergistic regulation of local electronic structure and grain-boundary structural stability enabled by the SnPb alloy, the resulting Zn(002)/SnPb anode exhibits markedly improved long-term cycling stability. It operates stably for 5270 h at 40 mA cm^-2 with a cumulative deposited capacity of 105 Ah cm^{- 2}. This work reveals the distinctive role of alloy-enabled GB reinforcement and provides a practical GB engineering strategy for stable zinc anodes under extreme conditions.