Advances and Perspectives of Cathode Storage Chemistry in Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have captured a surge of interest in recent years as a promising alternative for scalable energy storage applications owing to the intrinsic safety, affordability, environmental benignity, and impressive electrochemical performance. Despite the facilitated development of this technology by many investigations, however, its smooth implementation is still plagued by inadequate energy density and undesirable life span, which calls for an efficient and controllable cathode storage chemistry. Here, this review focuses on the key bottlenecks by offering a comprehensive summary of representative cathode materials and comparatively analyzing their structural features and electrochemical properties. Then, we critically present several feasible electrode design strategies to guide future research activities from a fundamental perspective for high-energy-density and durable cathode materials mainly in terms of interlayer regulation, defect engineering, multiple redox reactions, activated two-electron reactions, and electrochemical activation and conversion. Finally, we outline the remaining challenges and future perspectives of developing high-performance AZIBs.

A two-electron transfer mechanism of the Zn-doped δ-MnO2 cathode toward aqueous Zn-ion batteries with ultrahigh capacity

“…Therefore, a critical appraisal of electrochemical performance cycling at low current densities (<0.5 A g À1 ) is extremely ensured and sufficient electrochemical redox reactions during the deep cycling process are warranted to evaluate the structural stability of the cathode materials. 36 Excellent cycling performance is achieved for the Zn-doped MnO 2 ZIBs at a low current rate of 200 mA g À1 . As described in Fig.…”

Synthesis of Nitrogen‐Doped KMn8O16 with Oxygen Vacancy for Stable Zinc‐Ion Batteries

“…[ 4 ] Particularly, aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) using Zn anode has shown significant promise for grid‐scale energy storage owing to the high specific capacity (820 mAh g −1 ), low redox potential, rich abundance, and low cost of metallic Zn. [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ] Nevertheless, the further development of next‐generation AZIBs is mainly hindered by cathode materials. A significant challenge remains to construct highly reversible cathode materials with good electrochemical properties.…”

Strategies of regulating Zn2+solvation structures for dendrite-free and side reaction-suppressed zinc-ion batteries

“…3,63 Moreover, the bigger size of the hydrated Zn 2+ (5.5 Å) ions greatly increases the energy consumption for breaking Zn 2+ –H 2 O bonds during Zn 2+ intercalation. 37,64 Therefore, inhibiting the zinc dendrites and parasitic reactions via regulating the solvation configuration around Zn 2+ ions is highly necessary for improving the reversibility of zinc anodes.…”