The intrinsically safe Zn‖I2 battery,one of the lead-ing candidates aiming to replace traditional Pb-acid batteries,is still seriously suffering from short shelf and cycling lifespan,due to the uncontrolled I3--shuttling and dynamic parasitic reactions on Zn anodes.Considering the fact that almost all these detrimental pro-cesses terminate on the surfaces of Zn anodes,modifying Zn anodes\'surface with protecting layers should be one of the most straightfor-ward and thorough approaches to restrain these processes.Herein,a facile zeolite-based cation-exchange protecting layer is designed to comprehensively suppress the unfavored parasitic reactions on the Zn anodes.The negatively-charged cavities in the zeolite lattice provide highly accessible migration channels for Zn2+,while blocking anions and electrolyte from passing through.This low-cost cation-exchange protecting layer can simultaneously suppress self-discharge,anode corrosion/passivation,and Zn dendrite growth,awarding the Zn‖I2 batteries with ultra-long cycle life(91.92％capacity retention after 5600 cycles at 2 A g-1),high coulombic efficiencies(99.76％in average)and large capacity(203-196 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1).This work provides a highly affordable approach for the construction of high-performance Zn-I2 aqueous batteries.