Fig. 5: Texture formation mechanism demonstrated through EBSD and in situ XRD analysis.

a Schematic of texture formation mechanism under high current densities. b Pole figure showing the texture of the cross-section. The texture intensity is scaled with the color legend. c Image quality map (IQM) from an EBSD scan showing the grain structure of a cross-section from a Zn film deposited under 60 mA/cm2 for 20 min (the Cu substrate is the dark region at the bottom), and corresponding inverse pole figure (IPF) map of the same area showing the crystallographic orientations of different grains. The sample normal direction (ND) in the IPF is chosen to be pointing upwards as labeled by the black arrow. As a result, grains with their <001> directions aligned (or approximately aligned) with the ND are colored reddish, as shown in the legend on the right. d–h RTCs of Zn plating under different plating protocols. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.