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Vol. 19 (2027)

Bolstered Interfacial Field Chemistry for Deep Fast-Charging Aqueous Zinc Metal Batteries

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02314-5
Minxi Sun
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Yining Chen
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Congge Lu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Jingkang Ma
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Qiuyuan Feng
Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallic Materials Design and Application, Xinjiang Engineering Research Center of Environmental and Functional Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, People’s Republic of China
Shaoxing Li
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Tao Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Shuang Zhou
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Anqiang Pan
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Anqiang Pan

pananqiang@csu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 19 (2027), Article Number: 8

Abstract

Deep fast-charging capability has become the core pursuit for practical applications of aqueous zinc metal batteries, yet it is critically impeded by unfavorable interfacial field evolution at the electrode/electrolyte interface under high-current–density conditions. The coexistence of sluggish Zn2+ desolvation, competitive H2O reduction corrosion, uneven electric field, and concentration field collectively leads to poor rate performance. To tackle these issues, a bolstered interfacial field chemistry strategy was developed via sulfosuccinic acid to precisely regulate the physicochemical and electrochemical properties within the inner Helmholtz plane. The tuned interfacial field comprises a homogeneous distribution of interfacial ions and electric fields, promoting fast desolvation and interfacial electron transfer. Consequently, the modified Zn||Cu asymmetric cells deliver an outstanding average Coulombic efficiency of 99.48% over 1600 cycles at 2 mA cm−2 and 1 mAh cm−2. Furthermore, the modified Zn||Zn symmetric cells demonstrate exceptional stability under challenging conditions of 5 mA cm−2, 2 mAh cm−2 (over 1600 h), and 10 mA cm−2, 10 mAh cm−2 (over 675 h, depth of discharge = 17.08%). Impressively, a substantial cumulative capacity of 3500 mAh cm−2 is attained at 10 mAh cm−2 and a 56.93% Zn utilization rate. Besides, the enhanced Zn (10 µm) ||I2 (10.87 mg cm−2) full cell sustains over 1490 cycles at 1 A g−1 with 77.13% capacity retention and a harsh N/P ratio of 2.31. Remarkably, the Zn (10 µm) ||I2 pouch cell achieves over 680 cycles with an ultralow N/P ratio of 2.04.


Highlights:
1 A sulfosuccinic acid-enabled interfacial field chemistry strategy is developed to regulate the inner Helmholtz plane, which homogenized ion/electric distribution, thus accelerating Zn2+ desolvation and charge transfer under high current density.
2 This strategy enables superior reversibility and ultralong stability in Zn||Zn cells, simultaneously meeting the requirements of high current density and deep discharge.
3 The optimized Zn (10 µm) ||I2 full cells deliver over 1490 cycles (N/P = 2.31) and 680 cycles in pouch cells (N/P = 2.04), respectively.

Keywords

Aqueous zinc mental batteries Inner Helmholtz plane regulation Fast-charging Depth of discharge Interfacial adsorption
Sun, Minxi, Yining Chen, Congge Lu, Jingkang Ma, Qiuyuan Feng, Shaoxing Li, Tao Zhang, Shuang Zhou, and Anqiang Pan. 2026. “Bolstered Interfacial Field Chemistry for Deep Fast-Charging Aqueous Zinc Metal Batteries”. Nano-Micro Letters 19 (July):8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02314-5.
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