Texturing and interfacial engineering strategies for regulating Zn deposition by in-situ grown ZnTe on Zn anode toward long lifespan Aquous zinc ion batteries

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation batteries. In this study, a reliable approach of synthesizing a ZnTe directly on Zn (denoted as ZnTe@Zn) as the protective layer is introduced to comprehensively address these issues. The ZnTe@Zn exhibits a lower nucleation energy barrier (48 mV), high electrical/ion conductivity (1.9 × 10⁻⁵ S cm⁻¹/6.8 × 10⁻⁵ S cm⁻¹). Moreover, ZnTe layer effectively mitigates spontaneous corrosion and hydrogen evolution, thereby enhancing cycle stability of reaching 4600 h at the current density of 1 mA cm⁻² and a capacity of 0.5 mAh cm⁻² with small voltage hysteresis of 52.6 mV. Notably, the transference number of Zn ion is substantial improved (0.789). Through the density functional theory (DFT) calculation, the interface between ZnTe (111) and Zn (002) exhibits the high absorption energy, benefitting to the evenly deposition of Zn ions. Finally, the ZnTe@Zn//β-MnO₂ full battery delivers a high capacity of 190 mAh cm⁻² and achieves long lifespan of reaching 1000 cycles at 0.5 A g⁻¹ with 99.8 % Coulombic efficiency (CE). Meanwhile, the ZnTe@Zn//β-MnO₂ pouch cell delivered a capacity of 175.2 mAh g⁻¹ with CE of 99.85 % for 1000 cycles and exbihits the excellent mechanical tolerance upon the bending.