Amorphous organic-hybrid vanadium oxide for near-barrier-free ultrafast-charging aqueous zinc-ion battery.

Liu, Mingzhuang; Li, Xinghua; Cui, Mengxia; Chen, Feiyu; Li, Jiaxing; Shi, Weijian; Liu, Yu; Li, Xiaowei et al. · Nat Commun · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Fast-charging metal-ion batteries are essential for advancing energy storage technologies, but their performance is often limited by the high activation energy (E<sub>a</sub>) required for ion diffusion in solids. Addressing this challenge has been particularly difficult for multivalent ions like Zn<sup>2+</sup>. Here, we present an amorphous organic-hybrid vanadium oxide (AOH-VO), featuring one-dimensional chains arranged in a disordered structure with atomic/molecular-level pores for promoting hierarchical ion diffusion pathways and reducing Zn<sup>2+</sup> interactions with the solid skeleton. AOH-VO cathode demonstrates an exceptionally low E<sub>a</sub> of 7.8 kJ·mol<sup>-1</sup> for Zn<sup>2+</sup> diffusion in solids and 6.3 kJ·mol<sup>-1</sup> across the cathode-electrolyte interface, both significantly lower than that of electrolyte (13.2 kJ·mol<sup>-1</sup>) in zinc ion battery. This enables ultrafast charge-discharge performance, with an Ah-level pouch cell achieving 81.3% of its capacity in just 9.5 minutes and retaining 90.7% capacity over 5000 cycles. These findings provide a promising pathway toward stable, ultrafast-charging battery technologies with near-barrier-free ion dynamics.