Breaking the trade-off between kinetics and stability in vanadium oxides for stable aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are attractive candidates for large-scale energy storage because of their cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness, and high safety. Nonetheless, the bottleneck of most cathode materials for AZIBs is the trade-off between structural stability and ion intercalation kinetics, hindering their cycling life and rate performance. Here, this trade-off is broken by preparing porous V2O5 (M-V2O5), which is derived from the metal-organic framework. The nanoscale V2O5 cubic porous material with superior specific surface area can provide abundant active sites and unique channels to ensure fast reaction kinetics and improve cycle stability. As a result, by employing the M-V2O5 cathode, the AZIBs exhibit enhanced rate capability and cycling performance. Specifically, the battery exhibits superior rate performance (467 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1) and high capacity retention (84% after 4000 cycles at 5 A g-1), surpassing those of most reported vanadium-based cathode materials. Our strategy offers a fresh way to unlock the full potential of vanadium oxide cathode materials.