Porous zinc metal anodes for aqueous zinc-ion batteries: Advances and prospectives

The intensifying challenges posed by climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels have spurred concerted global efforts to develop alternative energy storage solutions. Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as promising candidates for large-scale electrochemical energy storage systems because of their intrinsic safety, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. However, Zn dendrite growth consistently poses a remarkable challenge to the performance improvement and commercial viability of AZIBs. The use of three-dimensional porous Zn anodes instead of planar Zn plates has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to regulate the deposition/stripping behavior of Zn²⁺ ions, thereby inhibiting the dendrite growth. Here, the merits of porous Zn anodes were summarized, and a comprehensive overview of the recent advancements in the engineering of porous Zn metal anodes was provided, with a particular emphasis on the structural orderliness and critical role of porous structure modulation in enhancing battery performance. Furthermore, strategic insights into the design of porous Zn anodes were presented to facilitate the practical implementation of AZIBs for grid-scale energy storage applications.