Self-supporting nickel-doped V2O5 nanoarrays as bifunctional electrodes for wearable aqueous zinc-ion batteries and pressure sensors

Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), due to its distinctive open-framework construction and significant theoretical capacity, has widespread applications in the rapid development of aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) and pressure sensors. However, V2O5 exhibits rapid capacity degradation and poor cycling stability due to its low electrical conductivity and ion diffusion rate, limiting its vast application prospects. Therefore, the self-supporting V2O5 nanoarrays employing a Ni doping strategy on flexible carbon substrates act as an AZIBs cathode material (Ni–V2O5@CNTF), which possesses an enlarged interlayer space and high ion conductivity to provide a stable crystal structure for fast and reversible Zn2+ insertion/extraction. More notably, the assembled Zn/Ni–V2O5@CNTF battery achieves a high capacity of 398.85 mAh cm−3 at 0.1 A cm−3, superior rate performance and cycling stability for 2000 cycles. In addition, the V2O5 nanoarrays grown on carbon cloth serving as the functional electrode material (Ni–V2O5@CC) are applied in a flexible resistive pressure sensor, exhibiting a high sensitivity of 0.8 kPa−1 from 0 to 5.0 kPa and stable sensing capabilities from 0 to 25 kPa. Furthermore, extensive applications are investigated in monitoring human activities and anti-intrusion pre-alarm systems. This work demonstrates a dual-functional fabric electrode based on Ni–V2O5, offering new guidelines for the next generation of multifunctional flexible electronic products.