Cold-Pressing Strategy for Constructing Simple and High-Performance Dendrite-Free Zinc Anodes for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Dendrite growth, corrosion, and side reactions on zinc anodes significantly hinder the commercialization of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). To address these challenges, we propose a simple and cost-effective room-temperature cold-pressing process to build dendrite-free zinc anodes by means of a special collector-composite structure. Specifically, the symmetric cell assembled with copper mesh (CM) based Zn anodes exhibited remarkable cycling stability over 4000 h at 1 mA cm^–2 current density and also exhibited an exceptionally long life of over 2800 h at 5 mA cm^–2 current density, reflecting the Stability of Zn zinc plating/stripping cycles. In situ optical microscopy was employed to investigate the deposition behavior of the CM electrode during repeated plating and stripping processes. Density functional theory (DFT) calculates that Zn²⁺ ions are preferentially adsorbed on the copper surface, while COMSOL simulation elucidates the homogeneous electric field and current density distribution due to the unique three-dimensional structure of the CM electrode. These synergistic effects effectively inhibited the growth of dendrites, ensuring a stable zinc deposition process. This work provides a scalable approach for designing dendrite-free zinc anodes for practical AZIB applications.