Rechargeable Aqueous Sn Metal Batteries: Potentials, Challenges, and Opportunities

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As the global demand for energy storage grows, rechargeable aqueous batteries have gained attention as a promising candidate, offering intrinsic safety, environmental sustainability, and low manufacturing costs. For aqueous batteries key challenge lies in the narrow electrochemical stability window which restricts output voltage and energy. Pure water has a narrow electrochemical stability window of 1.23 V, constrained by hydrogen and oxygen evolution (HER/OER). However, kinetic barriers induce polarization, expanding the operational voltage. Since OER faces higher kinetic barriers than HER, metal anodes with high HER overpotentials are crucial to suppress HER and enhance battery performance. 1 The sp metals are good candidates for aqueous batteries due to their intrinsic high HER overpotential. The ΔG H* of sp metal is high because their d band lies low that it plays no role in the bonding of hydrogen, and the sp band at Fermi level does not overlap with H 1s orbital effectively. Tin (Sn) as a typical sp metal, has recently emerged as a promising anode due to its unique electrochemical properties, including high acid tolerance, good recyclability, and the ability to undergo multivalent redox reactions. 2 Unlike Zn, Sn features a body-centered tetragonal crystal structure with isotropic surface energy, reducing the risk of dendrite formation. However, significant challenges remain, including the formation of inactive ‘dead Sn’ and competitive HER, which accelerate electrolyte consumption and capacity decay. Recent advancements in electrolyte and interfacial engineering have demonstrated progress in mitigating these issues, yet further optimization is required to unlock the full potential of Sn. 3-4 We will provide a comprehensive review of Sn metal batteries, highlight remaining challenges and future opportunities for Sn metal anodes in both acidic and alkaline environments, and discuss some of our typical works in this emerging field. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This work was supported by the Energy Storage Research Alliance “ESRA” (DE-AC02-06CH11357), an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences. The idea is conceived during the ESRA preparation period. D.-J.L. and H.Z.Z. acknowledges the funding support from the Joint Task Force Initiative (JTFI) at the University of Chicago (2-84889-4401). Y.S.M., D.-J.L., and K.X. acknowledges the support from the Energy Transition Network at the University of Chicago. References H. Zhang, D.-J. Liu, K. Xu, Y. S. Meng. Adv. Mater. 2025 , 2417757. H. Zhang, D. Xu, F. Yang, J. Xie, Q. Liu, D. Liu, M. Zhang, X. Lu, Y. S. Meng. Joule 2023 , 7 , 971-985. J. Wang, S. K. Catalina, Z. Jiang, X. Xu, Q. T. Zhou, W. C. Chueh, J. T. Mefford, Joule 2024 , 8, 3386-3396 T. Xiao, L. Liu, H. Liu, T. Li, D. Cai, W. S. Lew, Y. Zhang, H. Bao, J.-L. Yang, H. J. Fan, Joule 2025 . 9, 101820.

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