Aqueous electrochemical energy storage systems that rely on earth-abundant elements are
considered to be a cost-effective alternative to current lithium-ion batteries, which have dominated
the technological landscape. For zinc-based energy storage, dendrite growth is the underlying
challenge that needs to be addressed to enact high performance and long-term stability. In the
present study, we employ atomic layer deposition to produce a thin tin oxide layer that seeks to
enable dendrite-free cycling for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Tin oxide is particularly interesting,
owing to its superior electrocatalytic activity among metal oxides, which lead to a two-fold
advantage—dendrite-free cycling and mitigation of parasitic hydrogen gas evolution. The presence
of the tin oxide layer leads to desirable hydrogen gas suppression and homogeneous zinc
plating/stripping. When paired in a full-cell configuration with manganese oxide, this anode
delivers a high specific capacity of 250 mAh g–1 at an imposed current rate of 30 mA g–1. Through
density functional theory calculations, we elucidate further that the adsorption energy of Zn for
bare Zn is higher than that when a tin oxide layer is present.