H. Kang, S.-H. Kim, D. B. Ahn, X. Wang, Z.-S. Wu * and S.-Y. Lee *

ACS Energy Letters, 2024, Accepted.

Zinc (Zn) powder-based anodes have garnered considerable attention as viable alternatives to their conventional Zn foil-based counterparts. However, challenges arising from undesirable interfacial side reactions and dendritic Zn growth hinder their practical implementation. Here, we present a class of liquid metal-skinned Zn (LSZ) powder anodes enabled by capillary suspension. The capillary suspension strategy can overcome the miscibility of liquid metal with other components, resulting in the self-standing and uniform LSZ powder anode. The nanothick eutectic gallium–indium (EGaIn) skin layer on Zn powders facilitated the horizontal growth of Zn along the (002) plane and mitigated Zn corrosion and hydrogen evolution reaction. Consequently, a full cell (V2O5 cathode ∥ LSZ powder anode) exhibited a stable capacity retention per cycle of 99.99% over 2000 cycles at a fast current rate of 1 A g–1, outperforming those of previously reported aqueous Zn full cells.