Stabilizing Zinc Metal Anode with 2-Propanol as Electrolyte Additive Across a Wide Temperature Range

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries are a promising energy storage system due to their low cost and high safety. Zinc metal, with its high volumetric capacity and low redox potential, is an ideal anode material. However, issues like self-corrosion and dendrite growth at the zinc anode reduce cycling life and hinder practical use. This study investigates 2-propanol as an electrolyte additive. The results show that a 30% 2-propanol+ZnSO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">4</inf> electrolyte provides the best cycling performance, with a $\mathbf{Z n} \| \mathbf{Z n}$ symmetric cell cycling stably for 1000 hours at $1 \mathrm{~mA} / \mathrm{cm}^{2}$ and $1 \mathrm{mAh} / \mathrm{cm}^{2}$. Additionally, at $-30^{\circ} \mathrm{C}$, the cell can maintain stable cycling for over 100 hours under the same current density and capacity. Scanning electron microscopy confirms that 2-propanol effectively suppresses dendrite formation and reduces zinc anode corrosion. This work presents a new strategy for designing high-performance aqueous electrolytes using functional additives.