Brick-Layer Templating of (002)-Oriented Zn at Battery Anodes

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are promising candidates for future large-scale energy storage because of their high safety and low cost. However, dendritic Zn growth at the anode severely compromises its long-term cyclability and thus impedes practical deployment of AZIBs. From a crystallographic perspective, enforcing preferential Zn growth along the (002) orientation can effectively suppress dendrite formation, but most existing strategies rely on pre-texturing of anodes or substantially altering the electrolyte composition, both of which add additional complexity and cost. In this regard, achieving robust (002)-oriented Zn deposition on commercial Zn foil in a ZnSO₄-dominated electrolyte remains crucial to the future development of AZIBs. Herein, we develop a new electrolyte additive, 2,4,6-trimethoxy-s-triazine (TST), which functions at trace concentrations to enable (002)-oriented Zn deposition at battery anodes. Via pre-adsorption on the anode surface, TST promotes a hexagonally ordered Zn adlayer as an interfacial brick template, thereby enabling texture-inherited (002) plating during subsequent electrodeposition. The proposed mechanism is corroborated through multi-dimensional characterization, and the resulting Zn anodes deliver markedly improved cycling stability across multiple cell configurations. We believe this work can inspire future studies on crystallographic orientation engineering-based Zn anode protection and can accelerate the practical implementation of AZIBs.