Highly active crystal planes-oriented texture for reversible high-performance Zn metal batteries

Zn metal anodes with fast kinetics and stable thermodynamics is critical for developing reversible high-performance aqueous Zn-ion batteries. Herein, based on the characteristic of Zn hexagonal close-packed structure, a highly active reaction plane (HARP)-induced deposition strategy is developed by employing the selective reaction of weak oxidants (e.g., (NH₄)₆Mo₇O₂₄·4H₂O) to crystal planes to build a thermodynamically stable ZnMoO₄ passivation layer on Zn metal surface. The selective reaction creates lots of lattice defects on the HARP as nuclei and orientation origin for Zn deposition showing the fast reaction kinetics. In addition, the ZnMoO₄ layer exhibits superior properties in inhibiting the corrosion and side reactions for Zn electrodes (stable thermodynamics), along with fast transport kinetics as uniform ion flux of Zn²⁺. Therefore, the Zn electrode delivers superb reversibility for stripping/plating over 6000 h with a low polarization of 40 mV at 0.5 mA cm⁻². This concept is universally valuable for constructing metal electrodes with fast kinetics, stable thermodynamics, and high-capacity.