Protecting Zinc Electrodes with Glutarimide: A Breakthrough in Dendrite Prevention and Cycle Life Extension

Abstract Despite the advantages of aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs), such as high specific capacity and inherent safety, zinc metal as the anode undergoes dendrite growth and severe corrosion during battery cycling. This study reports the use of glutarimide (Glu) as an electrolyte additive, which occupies the dense region of the Zn‐electrolyte electric double layer (EDL), protecting the Zn surface from parasitic corrosion in aqueous electrolytes. Spectroscopic, theoretical calculations, and electrochemical analyses collectively demonstrate that the preferential adsorption of the additive at the zinc interface results in the restructuring of the EDL. This restructuring creates an H 2 O‐poor inner Helmholtz surface that inhibits parasitic reactions, accelerates interfacial dynamics, and promotes uniform zinc deposition. As a result, the Coulombic efficiency (CE) improves from 98.74% in ZnSO 4 (ZSO) electrolyte to 99.53% in ZSO/Glu electrolyte. The Zn symmetric cell achieves stable cycling performance of 6275 h at 1 mA cm −2 and 3460 h at 5 mA cm −2 , surpassing the performance of ZSO (290 h, 240 h). Additionally, Glu demonstrates excellent long‐term cycling stability and rate performance in Zn//CaVO full cells, confirming its feasibility. This work highlights the innovative application of Glu as a protective additive to enhance the stability and performance of AZIBs.