Ordered planar plating/stripping enables deep cycling zinc metal batteries | Science Advances

Metal anodes are emerging as culminating solutions for the development of energy-dense batteries in either aprotic, aqueous, or solid battery configurations. However, unlike traditional intercalation electrodes, the low utilization of “hostless” metal anodes due to the intrinsically disordered plating/stripping impedes their practical applications. Herein, we report ordered planar plating/stripping in a bulk zinc (Zn) anode to achieve an extremely high depth of discharge exceeding 90% with negligible thickness fluctuation and long-term stable cycling. The Zn can be plated/stripped with (0001) _Zn preferential orientation throughout the consecutive charge/discharge process, assisted by a self-assembled supramolecular bilayer at the Zn anode-electrolyte interface. Through real-time tracking of the Zn atoms migration, we reveal that the ordered planar plating/stripping is driven by the construction of in-plane Zn─N bindings and the gradient energy landscape at the reaction fronts. The breakthrough results provide alternative insights into the ordered plating/stripping of metal anodes toward rechargeable energy-dense batteries.