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Figure S1. (A) XRPD pattern and (B) PLM picture of ball milled QUE. Methods Apparent solubility studiesApparent solubility of pure QUE, QUE-COS PMs, and QUE-COS ASDs were determined in gas bath thermostatic biological shaker (HY-45, Guosheng Ltd., Changzhou, China). Excess sample was put into centrifuge tube, added 10 ml of 0.2 M phosphate buffer containing 0.5% Tween-80 (pH 6.8), and stirred at 100 rpm for 24 h at 37 ℃ ± 0.5 °C. Then, the collected suspensions were filtered by 0.45 μm filter

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage because of their low cost and high safety. However, their practical applications are impeded by low energy density and short service life. Here, an aqueous Zn2+/Li+ hybrid-ion battery is fabricated using the LiV3O8 nanorods as the cathode, metallic Zn as the anode, and 3 M Zn(OTf)2 + 0.5 M LiOTf aqueous solution as the electrolyte. Compared with the batteries using pure 3 M Zn(OTf)2 electrolyte, the cycle performance of the hybrid-ion battery is significantly improved. After 4000 cycles at 5 A g1, the remaining capacity is 163.9 mA h g−1 with impressive capacity retention of 87.0%. Ex-situ XRD, ex-situ XPS, and SEM tests demonstrate that the hybrid electrolyte can inhibit the formation of the irreversible Zn3(OH)2V2O7·2H2O by-product and restrict Zn dendrite growth during cycling, thereby improving the cycle performance of the batteries.

Controlling morphology, adopting metal cations and introducing crystal water are three effective strategies to improve the electrochemical performance of various battery electrodes. However, the effects of simultaneously applying these three strategies to aqueous rechargeable zinc batteries (ARZBs) are rarely demonstrated. Herein, hierarchical H 11 Al 2 V 6 O 23.2 (HAVO) microspheres were successfully prepared using a simple hydrothermal method, and used as cathode material for ARZBs. The as-prepared HAVO microspheres exhibited superior electrochemical performance than the dehydrated AlV 3 O 9 (AVO) microspheres, i. e. they have a larger specific capacity of 390.4 mA h g À 1 at 100 mA g À 1 , a better rate capability of 191.4 mA h g À 1 at 5000 mA g À 1 and a higher cycling stability of up to 1000 cycles with a capacity retention of 80.9 %. The excellent electrochemical performance of HAVO is due to the synergistic effects of the shortened ion diffusion distance in primary HAVO nanosheets, the improved electronic conductivity, and structural stability by adopting Al 3 + into the lattice, the enhanced charge transfer properties and ion diffusion coefficient of the electrode due to the existence of crystal water. Therefore, this work may offer a new route for the design and synthesis of more advanced electrode materials for ARZBs.