ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES, 2025 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are emerging as promising contenders for large-scale energy storage owing to their intrinsic safety, cost-effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. However, their practical application remains constrained by persistent issues at the Zn metal anode, including dendritic growth, interfacial passivation, and poor cycling stability. This study introduced a novel biopolymer-based interfacial engineering strategy utilizing carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), a zincophilic, water-soluble, and sustainable biopolymer. A uniform CMC coating is applied via a scalable spray-coating process and subsequently converted into a conductive carbonaceous interlayer through laser-assisted carbonization, yielding a functional c-CMC/Zn anode. This layer effectively suppresses dendrite formation, enhances Zn2+ ion transport, and improves the overall electrochemical stability of the Zn anode. Symmetric cell tests demonstrate exceptional cycling performance, with stable operation exceeding 3600 h at 2.0 mA cm-2 and an areal capacity of 2.0 mAh cm-2. When integrated into full-cell architectures with V2O5cathodes, the c-CMC/Zn & boxV;V2O5 device achieves a high specific capacity of 319 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 and retains 77% of its capacity over 1000 cycles at 1.0 A g-1. This work underscores the potential of laser-carbonised biopolymer coatings as a versatile and scalable solution to the longstanding challenges of Zn anode instability in aqueous ZIB systems.