Nanostructured conductive polymer shield for highly reversible dendrite-free zinc metal anode

Zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) are promising candidates for application in next-generation energy storages because of their high capacity, low cost, and safety. However, structural issues such as irregular Zn growth, volume change, and electrochemical issues (side reactions and byproducts) hinder their practical application. Herein, we present an innovative method to develop a nanostructured conductive polymer shield for a Zn anode, which leads to an efficient and reversible ZIBs. The direct and spontaneous deposition of nanostructured conductive polymer on a Zn surface plays vital role of mechanical and electrochemical shield for Zn anode. The 3D-PPy@Zn anodes display high symmetric cycling stability for up to 1500 h at 1 mA cm⁻², and the full cell assembled with a MnO₂ cathode exhibits highly reversible battery performance.