Freestanding Potassium Vanadate/Carbon Nanotube Films for Ultralong-Life Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Among various energy storage devices, aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have captured great attention due to their high safety and low cost. One of the most promising cathodes of aqueous ZIBs is layered vanadium-based compounds. However, they often suffer from the capacity decaying during cycling. Herein, we prepared KV₃O₈·0.75H₂O (KVO) and further incorporated it into a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) network, achieving freestanding KVO/SWCNT composite films. The KVO/SWCNT cathodes exhibit a Zn²⁺/H⁺ insertion/extraction mechanism, resulting in fast kinetics of ion transfer. In addition, the KVO/SWCNT composite films possess a segregated network structure, which offers the fast kinetics of electron transfer and guarantees an intimate contact between KVO and SWCNTs during cycling. As a result, the resultant batteries deliver a high capacity of 379 mAh g^-1, excellent rate capability, and an ultralong cycle life up to 10,000 cycles with a high capacity retention of 91%. In addition, owing to the high conductivity and flexibility of KVO/SWCNT films, flexible soft-packaged ZIBs based on KVO/SWCNT film cathodes were assembled and displayed stable electrochemical performance at different bending states.