Fast Zinc‐ion Shuttle Channel with Built‐in Ion‐anchors Enables Reversible and Sustainable Zinc Metal Anodes

ABSTRACT Aqueous zinc metal batteries (AZMBs) have been persistently constrained by dendrites and parasitic reactions arising from competitive reduction reactions between Zn ²⁺ and water molecules at the electrode/electrolyte interface. In this study, we introduced an interfacial fast Zn ²⁺ shuttle channel (Sph2400‐DM) to address these issues. This ion shuttle channel is fabricated using sphalerite (Sph2400) raw ore as the matrix, with its inner walls embedded with zinc‐ion anchor (DM) heterostructures. This structure synergistically integrates selective fast transport and interfacial Zn ²⁺ flux regulation, enhancing the migration efficiency and homogenized concentration gradient distribution of Zn ²⁺ at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Consequently, the system demonstrates highly reversible Zn ²⁺ plating/stripping for over 3300 h and achieves a cycling life exceeding 600 h at 50% depth of discharge. Moreover, attributed to repelled water molecules and enhanced Zn ²⁺ kinetics, the NH ₄ V ₄ O ₁₀ ||Sph2400‐DM@Zn full cell (cathode loading of 13.91 mg cm ⁻² ) achieves stable cycling over 680 cycles with negligible capacity decay at 1 A g ⁻¹ . Surprisingly, the pouch cell with high cathode loading (8.81 mg cm ⁻² ) and low N/P ratio (2.6) presents 83.8% capacity retention after 200 cycles at 0.8 A g ⁻¹ , further demonstrating the effectiveness of this strategy.