High capacity and dendrite-free Zn anode enabled by zincophilic 3D Sn-C nanowire framework

•The interlayer network mitigates volume expansion from zinc deposition.•The 3D framework reduces local current, promoting uniform Zn2+ deposition.•Modified Zn cells deliver superior cycling performance at high capacity. Aqueous zinc-ion batteries, due to their safety and low cost, are considered one of the most promising candidates for aqueous zinc-ion battery. However, the rampant dendrite growth of Zn has severely impacted the cycle life of the battery. Herein, we have designed a zincophilic 3D Sn-modified carbon fiber network (Sn-C) as an artificial interface layer framework on the anode surface. This Sn-C nanonetwork can guide the uniform growth of Zn, reducing notorious dendritic growth, and the interlayer growth pattern accommodates the volumetric expansion caused by the large areal capacity deposition. The assembled symmetric batteries have cycled for over 2000 h at 5 mAh cm−2 and 10 mAh cm−2, and even at large areal capacities of 20 mAh cm−2 and 50 mAh cm−2, the batteries have still cycled for over 300 h.