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March 21, 2026Advanced Functional Materials3 citations

Synchronous Reshaping Dual Helmholtz Planes via Molecular Structure Mediation for Robust Zn Metal Batteries

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HHHaotian HouYHYun HuangMLMingquan Liu

Key Points

  • The aim is to explore molecular engineering of electrolyte additives to optimize the electric double layer in Zn metal batteries.
  • Propose a molecular-configuration modulation approach using glutamine derivatives.
  • Investigate the adsorption behavior of Glycyl-L-glutamine on Zn surfaces.
  • Evaluate cycling stability and efficiency in Zn//Zn and Zn//Cu cell configurations.
  • Glycyl-L-glutamine promotes a compact IHP interfacial layer shielding electrode from side reactions.
  • Optimal configuration increases interfacial solvation and accelerates desolvation kinetics.
  • Achieved 7875 hours of cycling stability at 1 mA cm −2 and 4500 hours at 5 mA cm −2 in Zn symmetric cells.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Molecular engineering of electrolyte additives has been extensively explored to reconfigure the electric double layer (EDL) for improving the stability and interfacial kinetics of Zn metal anodes. However, achieving simultaneous regulation of both the inner and outer Helmholtz planes (IHP/OHP) through a simple strategy, along with molecularly understanding of how additive configuration dictates the IHP/OHP structure, remains inadequately addressed. In contrast to conventional additives that often offer limited or selective regulation, this work proposes a molecular‐configuration modulation approach using glutamine derivatives as a model system to cooperatively engineer the IHP and OHP. Among them, Glycyl‐L‐glutamine (Gly‐L‐Glu) exhibits an optimal configuration that promotes a vertically aligned adsorption geometry on the Zn surface. This specific orientation facilitates formation of a compact and ordered interfacial layer within IHP for effectively shielding the electrode from water‐induced side reactions, while simultaneously extends to reconstruct the OHP to optimize the interfacial solvation environment and accelerate desolvation kinetics. The resulting well‐defined electrode/electrolyte interphase fosters efficient charge transfer, and the presence of abundant electronegative zincophilic sites enhances ion transport and homogenizes Zn 2 + flux during deposition. Consequently, the Gly‐L‐Glu–modified electrolyte enables exceptional cycling stability of Zn anodes, achieving 7875 h at 1 mA cm −2 and nearly 4500 h at 5 mA cm −2 with 5 mAh cm −2 in Zn//Zn symmetric cells, an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.8% in Zn//Cu asymmetric cells. This work underscores the critical role of molecular configuration in additive design for advanced Zn metal anodes.

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Cite This Study

Hou et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69be38596e48c4981c678b9dhttps://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202532147
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