Synergistic Microstructural and Crystallographic Regulation of V ₆ O ₁₃ for Boosting Zinc-Ion Batteries

V 6 O 13 emerges as a highly promising cathode material for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs), owing to its unique bilayer topology that offers abundant Zn 2+ storage sites and metal-like electronic conductivity. Nevertheless, the electrochemical performance of pristine V 6 O 13 is severely hampered by its intrinsic weak van der Waals interactions, narrow interlayer spacing, and prone-to-agglomeration morphology, leading to slow Zn 2+ diffusion and poor structural resilience. Herein, we develop a dual-modulation strategy involving CTAB modification and rare-earth Y 3+ preintercalation for the construction of high-performance Y-CTAB-VO-2 nanobelts to address these limitations. The introduction of CTAB not only promotes the formation of high-aspect-ratio nanobelts with improved dispersion and minimized aggregation but also increases the electrochemically active surface area. Concurrently, Y 3+ intercalation effectively expands the interlayer spacing, facilitating rapid Zn 2+ diffusion and reinforcing structural integrity. Benefiting from these synergistic modifications, the optimized Y-CTAB-VO-2 cathode delivers exceptionally high reversible capacity (530 mAh g –1 at 0.1 A g –1 ), outstanding rate performance (340 mAh g –1 at 10 A g –1 ), and remarkable cycling stability (retaining 85.1% of its capacity after 2,500 cycles at 5 A g –1 ), surpassing most reported vanadium-based AZIB cathodes. This work provides new insights into designing advanced layered vanadium oxide cathodes for high-performance AZIBs.