Beyond-potential-driven ultrafast SEI pre-formation enables durable aqueous zinc metal batteries

Building a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) is a widely accepted strategy in high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries for scalable energy storage. However, conventional SEIs are typically formed by electrolyte decomposition at low potentials. Corrosion of the zinc metal anode during the period from cell assembly to operation is often overlooked. To address this challenge, we establish a beyond-potential-driven ultrafast SEI pre-formation strategy by introducing a N,N-dimethyldithiocarbamyl propyl sulfonic acid sodium salt (DPS) additive into the electrolyte. The DPS-derived anions with electrophilic groups can spontaneously interact with zinc to produce an inorganic interphase before cycling. The chemically anchored SEI films effectively prevent electrolyte corrosion during cell rest period and facilitate homogeneous zinc nucleation and growth. The Zn||Zn symmetric cell demonstrates long cycling for 2800 h at a low current density of 0.2 mA cm −2 with an areal capacity of 1 mAh cm −2 . Furthermore, the NH 4 V 4 O 10 ||Zn full cell retains a capacity retention of 95.3% after 1200 cycles at 4 A g −1 . The proposed strategy of ultrafast SEI pre-formation before cell operation affords new insight into stabilizing high-energy metal anodes in advanced aqueous batteries.