V2O3@Amorphous Carbon as a Cathode of Zinc Ion Batteries with High Stability and Long Cycling Life

Zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) have the advantages of environmental friendliness, safety, and simple assembly and have strong application potential in the field of energy storage. In this work, an amorphous carbon-loaded V2O3 (V2O3@AC) material is prepared by calcination and used as a cathode material for ZIBs. The V2O3@AC cathode has excellent stability and long life, which maintains 94.8 and 90.7% capacity retention after 180 cycles at 0.1 A g–1 and after 1600 cycles at 1 A g–1, respectively. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization, V2O3@AC is composed of small irregular nanoparticles, which have a lot of space for electrolyte penetration and ion transmission, and the kinetic studies also confirm this transport capability. The mechanism of zinc storage is studied by ex situ X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and SEM technology, and they confirm that V2O3 will undergo phase transition and become V10O24·12H2O during the first charge process. Due to the high stability and cycle life of V2O3, we believe that it has competitive potential in zinc ion batteries and can play an important role in large-scale energy storage in the future.