Preparation for V6O13@hollow carbon microspheres and their remarkable electrochemical performance for aqueous zinc-ion batteries

V6O13@hollow carbon microspheres (HCMs) have been successfully synthesized via high-temperature magnetic stirring and sintering method. V6O13@HCMs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, FESEM, TEM, XPS, TGA and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. V6O13 is uniformly coated on the surface of the hollow carbon microspheres. V6O13@HCMs-2 delivers a high discharge capacity of 442.3 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 in the potential of 0.2–1.8 V, good capacity retention of 76% after 1000 cycles at a high current density of 1 A g−1, and excellent rate capacity of 235.6 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1. This good electrochemical performance can be attributed to the hollow and core-shell structure for V6O13@HCMs.