Ye Chen, Xue Gong, Jiajun Chen, Chunli Wang, Yannan Liu, Liangzhu Zhang*, Yanfeng Dong*, and Zhong-Shuai Wu*

Advanced Energy Materials, 2026, accepted.

Aqueous zinc metal batteries (ZMBs) with low cost and intrinsic safety hold great promise for large-scale energy storage. However, the unstable zinc-electrolyte interface chemistry frequently triggers Zn dendrites and side reactions, leading to rapid capacity decay of ZMBs. Herein, an interfacial electrical field based on the work function difference between Zn (3.8 eV) and metallic 1T'-MoTe2 nanosheets (4.4 eV) is established to weaken electrostatic repulsion of Zn2+ ions in the electrical double layer (EDL) for durable ZMBs. Importantly, theoretical and experimental results indicate the interfacial electrical field can effectively compress the EDL thickness and attract more zinc ions to occupy the EDL, greatly suppressing side reactions during zinc deposition, thus dense and dendrite-free Zn deposition can be achieved under the zincophobic MoTe2 protective layer for long-life ZMBs. Therefore, the assembled MoTe2@Zn||MoTe2@Zn cells display an ultra-long cycle life of 5000 h at 1 mA cm−2 and 1 mAh cm−2, and maintain reversible zinc deposition for 75 h at 1 mA cm−2 and 4 mAh cm−2 even at a depth of discharge of 68%. The resulting MoTe2@Zn||MnO2 ZMBs exhibit outstanding 1000 cycles at 1 A g−1, and the MoTe2@Zn||MnO2 pouch ZMBs are further demonstrated for practical applications.