Plasma Enabled Synthesis of Dual Phase Alkali Metals (Li, Na, K) & Water Co‐Intercalated V ₂ O ₅ 3D TMO Clusters for High Performing Aqueous Zinc Ion Battery

ABSTRACT Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted considerable attention as a safe and cost‐effective to energy storage system. Cathode materials, which are critical to determining overall AZIB performance, remain a major hurdle to deployment. Currently, substantial energy is required for synthesis, while improvements in capacity and energy density remain necessary to compete with incumbent lithium‐ion batteries. Herein, we report a high‐performance and durable alkali metal (M = K, Na, Li) and water co‐intercalated vanadium oxide (M‐WiVO) cathode synthesized via a rapid (70 min) and energy‐efficient plasma‐assisted hydrothermal (PAHT) process. The M‐WiVO structure consists of water‐intercalated vanadium oxide (V 2 O 5 ·nH 2 O) and monoclinic M x V 2 O 5 phases, which provide expanded channels for rapid Zn 2+ ion transport. Among the M‐WiVO materials, K‐WiVO delivers the highest capacity of 526.7 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 (≈90% of the theoretical capacity of V 2 O 5 ) and retains 94.5% of its initial capacity after 4000 cycles at 10 A g −1 . Density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirm the stability of the dual‐intercalated framework and the superior performance of K‐WiVO. Overall, the monoclinic M x V 2 O 5 phase provides long‐term electrochemical stabilities; meanwhile, water intercalation in V 2 O 5 provides high capacity and facilitates the Zn 2+ ion transport, where the dual phase works synergistically to preserve the excellent AZIB performances in M‐WiVO.