Recent Advances in Vanadium‐Based Aqueous Rechargeable Zinc‐Ion Batteries

Abstract

Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted considerable attention as promising next‐generation power sources because of the abundance, low cost, eco‐friendliness, and high security of Zn resources. Recently, vanadium‐based materials as cathodes in AZIBs have gained interest owing to their rich electrochemical interaction with Zn2+ and high theoretical capacity. However, existing AZIBs are still far from meeting commercial requirements. This article summarizes recent advances in the rational design of vanadium‐based materials toward AZIBs. In particular, it highlights various tactics that have been reported to increase the intercalation space, structural stability, and the diffusion ability of the guest Zn2+, as well as explores the structure‐dependent electrochemical performance and the corresponding energy storage mechanism. Furthermore, this article summarizes recent achievements in the optimization of aqueous electrolytes and Zn anodes to resolve the issues that remain with Zn anodes, including dendrite formation, passivation, corrosion, and the low coulombic efficiency of plating/stripping. The rationalization of these research findings can guide further investigations in the design of cathode/anode materials and electrolytes for next‐generation AZIBs.

Interlayer Doping in Layered Vanadium Oxides for Low‐cost Energy Storage: Sodium‐ion Batteries and Aqueous Zinc‐ion Batteries

“…Such a wide diffusion path can not only promote more ion intercalation to deliver high specific capacity, but also make up for the attenuation at extreme temperatures (0∼50 °C). When H 2 O and Li + was intercalated into the interlayers of V−O, it could respectively expand and maintain the layered galleries of V 2 O 5 ‐based materials, thus facilitating the Zn 2+ diffusion, and stabilized the structure during cycling [18] . Similarly, hydrated pre‐intercalation of Al 3+ with small ion radius but high charge density can also expand the d‐spacing to lay a solid foundation for the rapid Zn 2+ diffusion kinetics [81] .…”

“…However, the intrinsic problems of vanadium oxides such as dissolution, low operating voltage, low conductivity, etc., also hinder their direct application, [16] which will be introduced in the next section. Thus, as a significant structural regulation method, defect engineering has been widely discussed and researched [17,18] …”

2020 Roadmap on Zinc Metal Batteries

“…Several scientific challenges including the dendrite growth and corrosion of Zn anode, the dissolution and failure of cathode materials, the strong electrostatic interactions with the host matrix, the byproducts formation, as well as the absence of new electrolyte, commonly cause sluggish diffusion, low coulombic efficiency (CE), poor lifespan, or inferior Zn-storage capability. [36,37,41,42] Currently, the lack of suitable cathode materials hampers the further development of AZIBs to a great extent. Recently, most research scholars focused on Mn-based cathodes, Mo-based cathodes, V-based cathodes, Prussian blue analogs, organics and some other materials.…”

“…• nH 2 O and other oxides are employed as the cathodes for AZIBs. [36,37,41] Unfortunately, the cathodes without the modification or treatment usually show unsatisfactory energy densities and sluggish reaction kinetics, suffer from severe structural failure and dissolution of the components in the charging/discharging process. At present, the innovation of electrode materials is one of the vital tasks for AZIBs.…”

Rechargeable Mild Aqueous Zinc Batteries for Grid Storage

“…Furthermore, different kinds of pre-inserted cations and water molecules could stay in the interlayers of V-based compounds, which expands the interlayer space and stabilizes the layered structure by forming chemical bonding with O or S atoms in the V polyhedron layers. [29,30] Among different V-based compounds, V-based oxides are the most widely investigated compounds that present highly reversible Zn 2þ ion storage and fast kinetics during Zn 2þ intercalation-deintercalation.…”