Conductive and zincophilic textile-stabilized Zn anode for flexible Zn-I2 battery

Aqueous Zinc-metal batteries (AZBs) hold great promise for energy storage applications, yet their practical deployment is hindered by challenges such as dendrite formation and parasitic side reactions at the Zn anode. Herein, we developed a three-dimensional Cu-coated flexible host via an electroless plating strategy on cotton cloth (Cu@CT). This design effectively homogenizes the local current density, spatially regulates Zn-ion flux, and accommodates substantial volume changes during cycling. Additionally, the zincophilic Cu coating facilitates Zn nucleation and deposition by forming Cu–Zn alloys, which reduce the Zn nucleation overpotential and promote uniform Zn plating. As a result, the Cu@CT based anode exhibits highly reversible Zn plating/stripping behavior with an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.58% over 800 cycles, accompanied by low polarization and dendrite-free behavior. Moreover, the Zn–I 2 full cell demonstrates excellent rate capability, delivering a discharge capacity of 114 mAh g −1 at 10 A g −1 , along with stable long-term cycling performance over 950 cycles. The electroless plating strategy may represent a promising pathway for advancing high-performance AZBs.