Dendrite-free Zn anode enabled by combining carbon nanoparticles hydrophobic layer with crystal face reconstruction toward high-performance Zn-ion battery

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) have been considered promising energy storage systems due to their excellent electrochemical performance, environmental toxicity, high safety and low cost. However, uncontrolled dendrite growth and side reactions at the zinc anode have seriously hindered the development of ZIBs. Herein, we prepared the carbon nanoparticles layer coated zinc anode with (1   0   3) crystal plane preferential oriented crystal structure (denoted as C@RZn) by a facile one-step vapor deposition method. The preferential crystallographic orientation of (1   0   3) crystal plane promotes zinc deposition at a slight angle, effectively preventing the formation of Zn dendrites on the surface. In addition, the hydrophobic layer of carbon layer used as an inert physical barrier to prevent corrosion reaction and a buffer during volume changes, thus improving the reversibility of the zinc anode. As a result. the C@RZn anode achieves a stable cycle performance of more than 3000 h at 1 mA cm −2 with CE of 99.77 % at 5 mA cm −2 . The full battery with C@RZn anode and Mn-doped V 6 O 13 (MVO) cathode show stability for 5000 cycles at the current density of 5 A g −1 . This work provides a new approach for the design of multifunctional interfaces for Zn anode.