Ion intercalation is an effective strategy for improving the cycle stability and rate performance of δ-MnO 2 as a cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. However, in practice, ion selection appears rather arbitrary. In this work, Cu 2+ was chosen for δ-MnO 2 intercalation because although Cu 2+ and Zn 2+ have similar diameters, Cu 2+ has a slightly higher electronegativity (1.359) than Zn 2+ (1.347). Therefore, Cu 2+ has a stronger interaction with the MnO 2 lattice than Zn 2+ and can be stable during the intercalation/ deintercalation of Zn 2+ and H + . Results showed that the performance of Cu-doped δ-MnO 2 (CMO) was greatly improved. Moreover, at the high current density of 2 A g −1 , CMO achieved excellent cycle stability with 100% capacity retention after 600 cycles, whereas pristine δ-MnO 2 exhibited only 23% capacity retention. When the current density was increased from 0.2 to 2.0 A g −1 , the CMO electrode also delivered remarkable rate performance with 72% capacity retention, which was considerably higher than the 32% capacity retention demonstrated by pristine δ-MnO 2 . Given that Cu 2+ has a greater electronegativity than Zn 2+ , the Cu-O bond formed in CMO acted as a stable structural column and greatly improved the stability of CMO. Cu 2+ doping also increased the electronic conductivity and ionic conductivity of CMO and reduced the charge transfer resistance of H + and Zn 2+ at the electrode/ electrolyte interface, which improved the rate performance of CMO greatly. This work provides new insights into intercalation strategies to improve the electrochemical performance of batteries.