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Vol. 17 (2025)

Cationic Adsorption-Induced Microlevelling Effect: A Pathway to Dendrite-Free Zinc Anodes

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01709-0
Long Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Equipment, CNPC Tubular Goods Research Institute, Xi’an 710077, People’s Republic of China
Yiqing Ding
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Le Li
State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Equipment, CNPC Tubular Goods Research Institute, Xi’an 710077, People’s Republic of China
Yan Tang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Peng Zhou
Hunan Provincial Key Defense Laboratory of High Temperature Wear‑Resisting Materials and Preparation Technology, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, People’s Republic of China
Bingan Lu
School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, People’s Republic of China
Siyu Tian
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China
Jiang Zhou
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Electronic Packaging and Advanced Functional Materials, Central South University, Changsha 410083, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Jiang Zhou

zhou_jiang@csu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 17 (2025), Article Number: 202

Abstract

Dendrite growth represents one of the most significant challenges that impede the development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Herein, Gd3+ ions are introduced into conventional electrolytes as a microlevelling agent to achieve dendrite-free zinc electrodeposition. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that these Gd3+ ions are preferentially adsorbed onto the zinc surface, which enables dendrite-free zinc anodes by activating the microlevelling effect during electrodeposition. In addition, the Gd3+ additives effectively inhibit side reactions and facilitate the desolvation of [Zn(H2O)6]2+, leading to highly reversible zinc plating/stripping. Due to these improvements, the zinc anode demonstrates a significantly prolonged cycle life of 2100 h and achieves an exceptional average Coulombic efficiency of 99.72% over 1400 cycles. More importantly, the Zn//NH4V4O10 full cell shows a high capacity retention rate of 85.6% after 1000 cycles. This work not only broadens the  application of metallic cations in battery electrolytes but also provides fundamental insights into their working mechanisms.


Highlights:
1 A microlevelling agent containing Gd3+ ions significantly enhances the reversibility and stability of zinc anodes.
2 Gd3+ ions are preferentially adsorbed onto zinc surface, shielding zinc deposition at protrusions.
3 Adsorbed Gd3+ ions establish a water-poor electric double layer, suppressing side reactions at the interface.

Keywords

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries Zinc anodes Rare-earth cations Microlevelling Zinc dendrites
Jiang, Long, Yiqing Ding, Le Li, Yan Tang, Peng Zhou, Bingan Lu, Siyu Tian, and Jiang Zhou. 2025. “Cationic Adsorption-Induced Microlevelling Effect: A Pathway to Dendrite-Free Zinc Anodes”. Nano-Micro Letters 17 (March):202. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01709-0.
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