Long cycle performance of NC@VN/MnO cathode for AZIBs based on Mn/V relay type collaboration

Aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) have received great attention because of their non-toxicity, high safety, low cost, high abundance, and high specific power. However, their specific capacity is still low compared with lithium ion battery, and current academic research interesting has been focused on developing new cathode materials with high specific capacity. In this study, a Mn/V hybrid polymer framework is designed by a simple self-polymerization scheme. During subsequent calcination, ultrafine VN quantum dots and MnO nanoparticles are generated in situ and stably encapsulated inside N-doped carbon (NC) shells to obtain a novel hybrid cathode [email protected]/MnO for AZIBs. According to the density functional theory (DFT) calculation, the hybrids of MnO and VN can generate both interfacial effects and built-in electric fields that significantly accelerate ion and electron transport by tuning the intrinsic electronic structure, thus enhancing electrochemical performance. A synergistic strategy of composition and structural design allows the rechargeable AZIBs to achieve low-cost and excellent long-cycle performance based on a relay type collaboration at different cycling stages. Consequently, the [email protected]/MnO cathode has output a capacity of 108.3 mA h g−1 after 12,000 cycles at 10 A g−1. These results clearly and fully demonstrate the advantages of the hybrid cathode [email protected]/MnO.