Stabilizing Zinc Anodes via a Zeolite-Induced Localized Supersaturated Electrolyte Interface.

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs) hold great potential for cost-effective and safe grid-scale energy storage, yet their lifespan is limited by dendrite growth and side reactions arising from an unstable electrode/electrolyte interface. Although high-concentration electrolytes can tune solvation structure and enhance Zn plating/stripping stability, they suffer from high cost and low practicality. Herein, we propose a localized supersaturated electrolyte interface (LSEI) concept via constructing a low Si/Al ratio ZSM-5 zeolite (LZ5) interphase on the Zn surface. The abundant Brønsted acid sites inside the LZ5 nanochannels function as "ion tentacles" to spontaneously capture and confine Zn2+, dramatically raising the localized Zn2+ concentration on the Zn surface even in a dilute ZnSO4 electrolyte (1 M). This LSEI creates a H2O-deficient and anion-enriched Zn2+ solvation structure at the LZ5 interface, which concurrently accelerates Zn2+ desolvation and transport dynamics for dendrite-free deposition and suppresses H2O-induced side reactions. Consequently, the LZ5@Zn symmetric cells deliver a lifespan of over 2400 h and a high cumulative capacity exceeding 5.5 Ah cm-2. The assembled LZ5@Zn//NH4V4O10 full cells achieve 96% capacity retention over 1200 cycles at 3 A g-1. Our findings highlight the potential of LSEI design for developing durable Zn anodes toward practical AZIBs.