Solvation regulation with Janus solvates for sustainable aqueous Zn ion batteries

• • The Zn||Zn symmetric cell achieves over 3900 h of stable cycling at 1 mA cm−2 and 0.5 mA h cm−2, indicating a 3.9-fold improvement over baseline aqueous electrolytes, which is critical for grid-scale storage requiring multi-month duty cycles. • • The Zn||V2O5 full cell retains 79.2% capacity after 1000 cycles at 1 A g−1, and 74.1% after 4000 cycles at 4 A g−1, demonstrating high-rate durability essential for electric vehicle fast-charging applications. • • The hydrated deep eutectic electrolyte with methylurea (MU) and PEG (Mw=20000) promotes (002)-oriented Zn deposition, reducing dendrite formation and side reactions, which directly addresses the safety and lifespan bottlenecks of aqueous zinc batteries. • • The electrolyte design suppresses Zn2+ transfer kinetics via PEG adsorption, enabling uniform SEI formation and homogeneous deposition, a strategy that can be translated to other metal anodes (e.g., Li, Na) for improved cyclability.