Issue 4, 2024

High-rate and long-life flexible aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion battery enabled by hierarchical core–shell heterostructures

Abstract

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are potential alternative candidates for current commercial lithium-ion batteries due to their cost-efficiency, safety and sustainable nature. As one of the prominent cathode materials, MnO2 exhibits high operating voltage and theoretical capacity. Yet, its poor electrochemical kinetics, low conductivity, and lifespan prevent its further application. Herein, an effective strategy for the construction of hierarchical TiN@MnO2 nanowire arrays (NWAs) core–shell heterostructures directly grown on carbon cloth (CC) is demonstrated to systematically solve the above issues. First-principles calculations reveal that decreased bandgap and Zn2+ diffusion barrier as well as more stable structure of the host material after Zn2+ insertion promote the electrochemical kinetics of TiN@MnO2. As a result, TiN@MnO2 NWAs/CC exhibits significantly increased capacity (385.1 vs. 310 and 194 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1), rate performance (127.6 mA h g−1vs. 49.7 and 37.4 mA h g−1 at 4.0 A g−1) and cycling stability (101.6% capacity retention over 2300 cycles vs. 14.0% and 11.9%) compared with TiO2@MnO2 NWAs/CC and MnO2 NSs/CC, respectively. Finally, the as-assembled flexible ZIBs with TiN@MnO2 NWAs/CC cathode deliver an ultrahigh energy density of 327.7 W h kg−1 at 135.6 W kg−1. The proposition of the core–shell idea provides a novel strategy for development ZIBs.

Graphical abstract: High-rate and long-life flexible aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion battery enabled by hierarchical core–shell heterostructures

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 oct. 2023
Accepted
12 dic. 2023
First published
13 dic. 2023

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024,12, 2172-2183

High-rate and long-life flexible aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion battery enabled by hierarchical core–shell heterostructures

Z. Xu, W. Zhang, X. Wang, Y. Li, J. Fu, Y. Feng, W. Gong, J. Guo, P. Xue and Q. Li, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2024, 12, 2172 DOI: 10.1039/D3TA06183C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements