Aqueous rechargeable zinc batteries: Challenges and opportunities

The development of zinc batteries with advantages of high safety, low cost, and environmental friendliness is energetic in recent years because of the increasing requirement on large-scale energy storage systems for integrating renewable energy in the power grid. However, there are still significant challenges in the way of commercialization of aqueous zinc batteries, such as parasitic reaction, zinc dendrite, and structure collapse and dissolution of cathode materials. This review summarizes the Zn2+ storage mechanism of cathode materials and the challenges in front of electrode materials and aqueous electrolyte. Meanwhile, corresponding solutions and points that should be paid attention for commercialization are discussed.