Abstract: Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), employing environmentally benign and intrinsically safe water-based electrolytes, have attracted increasing attention as promising candidates for large-scale sustainable energy storage. Nevertheless, their practical deployment remains hindered by several critical challenges. In particular, metallic zinc anodes are suffer from dendrite growth, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and corrosion during repeated plating/stripping processes, which severely compromise cycling stability and Coulombic efficiency. To address these issues, extensive efforts have been devoted to optimizing zinc anode performance, primarily through structural design, interfacial engineering, and electrolyte regulation. This review summarizes recent advances in modification strategies for zinc metal anodes in AZIBs. From the perspective of structural design, the roles of three-dimensional architectures, alloy anodes, and epitaxially grown zinc anodes in increasing specific surface area and regulating nucleation behavior are discussed. Interfacial modification strategies based on functional materials, including carbon-based materials, metal-organic frameworks, and organic polymers, are then analyzed with emphasis on their mechanisms for regulating zinc deposition/stripping. Furthermore, electrolyte engineering strategies, such as zinc salt optimization, electrolyte additive development, and the design of novel electrolyte systems, are reviewed in terms of their effects on Zn2+ solvation structures and ion transport behavior. By integrating key mechanisms including electrostatic shielding, selective adsorption, desolvation regulation, in situ interphase formation, and crystallographic control, this review provides a comprehensive overview of zinc anode optimization strategies and offers perspectives on future research directions for high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Key words: Aqueous zinc-ion batteries, Design of zinc metal anode structures, Interface modification, Electrolyte modification, Separator