Regulating the Interlayer Spacing of Vanadium Oxide by In Situ Polyaniline Intercalation Enables an Improved Aqueous Zinc-Ion Storage Performance

Abstract

Vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) possesses great potential for application as cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries due to abundant valences of vanadium. Unfortunately, the inferior electronic conductivity and confined interlayer spacing of pristine V 2 O 5 are not able to support fast Zn 2+ diffusion kinetics, leading to significant capacity degradation, the dissolution of active species, and unsatisfactory cycling life. Herein, Zn 2+ (de)intercalation kinetics is improved by the design of in situ polyaniline (PANI)-intercalated V 2 O 5 . The intercalated PANI can not only improve the conductivity and structural stability of V 2 O 5 but also efficiently expand its interlayer spacing (1.41 nm), offering more channels for facile Zn 2+ diffusion. Benefiting from these virtues, a high specific capacity of 356 mA h g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 is achieved for the PANI-intercalated V 2 O 5 (PVO) cathode as well as a superior cycling performance (96.3% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 5 A g −1 ) in an aqueous electrolyte. Furthermore, the Zn 2+ storage in PVO is mainly dominated by the capacitive contribution. This work suggests that intercalating PANI in V 2 O 5 may aid in the future development of advanced cathodes for other multivalent metal ion batteries.

Interlayer engineering in V6O13 nanobelts toward superior Mg-ion storage

“…19,29 At the region above 1100 cm −1 , the characteristic peaks at 1129, 1357 and 1422 cm −1 belong to the stretching vibrations of CvC, C-N, and C-H groups, respectively. 30,31 And the characteristic peak at 1625 cm −1 is attributed to the bending vibration of N-H bonds. 24 The vibration mode of the intercalated PA molecule is suppressed by V 6 O 13 , resulting in a shift in the characteristic peaks of PA. All of these results firmly demonstrate the existence of PA in V 6 O 13 .…”

An Anti-Aromatic Covalent Organic Framework Cathode with Dual-Redox Centers for Rechargeable Aqueous Zinc Batteries

“…Rechargeable aqueous zinc batteries have experienced rapid development in the past few years. − Various cathode materials have been proposed, including inorganic compounds of metal oxides, Prussian blue salts, and polyanion compounds. − Meanwhile, organic materials represented by quinone-based molecules and polyaniline conducting polymers are explored, with conjugated carbonyl and imino functional groups as redox active sites, respectively. − Organic compounds are flexible in molecular design, which provides feasibility to control electrochemical behaviors. For instance, Nam and co-workers designed a ring structure formed by three phenanthrenequinones.…”

Highly Reversible and Stable Zinc Anode Enabled by a Fully Conjugated Porous Organic Polymer Protective Layer

“…Following the rapid development of technologies that using renewable energy sources and the urgent requirements for electronic equipment and electric vehicles, rechargeable electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems have shown important roles in balancing power dispatch and providing energies for portable electronics and electric vehicles. − High-quality electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems should be inexpensive, safe and have high energy density. − Commercial applications of lithium ion batteries have been very successful; however, there are still some severe issues that need to be addressed, such as limited lithium resources, potential risks resulting from the inflammability of electrolytes, and uneven lithium dendrite growth. − Therefore, developing novel, high-security, and low-cost rechargeable energy storage devices is urgent to meet the considerable market demand. Rechargeable aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) have received extensive attentions due to their advantages of abundance, low cost, and safety. ,− As competitive anodes for ZIBs, Zn anodes exhibit high theoretical specific capacity, low redox potentials and environmentally friendliness. − However, the problems of zinc corrosion and uncontrollable Zn dendrite during the charge–discharge process deteriorate the cycling stability and hinder the practical applications of ZIBs. ,− …”