Constructing hollow nanotube-like amorphous vanadium oxide and carbon hybrid via in-situ electrochemical induction for high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries receive more and more attentions on account of their low cost, high theoretical density and inherent safety. Nevertheless, the lack of suitable cathode materials with excellent performance still severely impedes the development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Herein, an in-situ electrochemical induction strategy is developed to prepare hollow nanotube-like amorphous vanadium oxide and carbon (a-V2O5@C) hybrid and its electrochemical performance is investigated comprehensively as cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries. Benefitting from the unique amorphous structure of V2O5 and intimate contact between amorphous V2O5 and carbon, the a-V2O5@C hybrid possess the abundant ion storage sites, isotropic ion diffusion routes and excellent conductivity. As a result, the a-V2O5@C hybrid cathode shows outstanding specific capacity of 448 mAh g-1 at 0.15 A g-1. Impressively, the a-V2O5@C hybrid cathode exhibits superior cycling stability, even when cycling at high current density of 10 A g-1, that the 96.5% specific capacity retention can be gained over 1500 cycles, corresponding to an average specific capacity loss of only 0.0023% per cycle. Furthermore, the mechanism involved is illustrated by systematical characterizations. Therefore, this work affords a new way for developing high-performance cathode materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries.