A variety
of batteries employing an alkaline zinc anode have been
investigated and partially commercialized over the last decades. Of
these, electrically rechargeable zinc–air batteries have been
considered, since the mid 20th century, as a sustainable alternative
for future green energy storage. Despite significant research efforts,
it has so far not been possible to commercialize this battery on a
large scale because of insufficient performance. The herein presented
overview is not yet another review; on the basis of a total of 70
articles published during the last 20 years in lab-scale research,
we assess the state-of-the-art performance of alkaline zinc anodes
for application in zinc–air batteries. We define descriptors
for the underlying analysis focusing on the practical relevance and
reveal that the expectations for this battery type are unfortunately
too high. Most importantly, the ultimate long-lasting alkaline zinc
anode has yet to be identified; this is a challenging, but appealing
task for interdisciplinary research.