Toward Stable and Safe Zinc Metal Anodes in Aqueous Rechargeable Batteries

Abstract Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) have garnered significant attention due to their abundant zinc resources, intrinsic safety, and environmental friendliness, making them highly promising candidates for large‐scale and low‐cost energy storage applications. Zinc metal anodes, with high gravimetric/volumetric specific capacity, are an indispensable component of advanced AZIBs. However, critical challenges including the dendrite formation at the zinc/electrolyte interface and parasitic reactions such as corrosion and hydrogen evolution (HER) triggered by high activity water result in low Coulombic Efficiency (CE), which severely limits the practical deployment of AZIBs. To address these issues, the rational design and construction of a stable zinc anode‐electrolyte interface are crucial for achieving long‐term stability and superior electrochemical performance. In recent years, a wide range of strategies—such as interface engineering, alloying, and host design—are proposed and developed to address the intrinsic limitations of zinc anodes. This review provides a timely and comprehensive overview of these approaches, with particular emphasis on controlled zinc deposition and interfacial protection, discussed from the perspective of metallic zinc anodes. Furthermore, the fundamental principles underlying these strategies are systematically analyzed, aiming to provide mechanistic insights that can guide the rational design of next‐generation anode for AZIBs in large‐scale energy storage applications.