An aqueous rechargeable zinc‐ion battery on basis of an organic pigment

Neutral aqueous rechargeable zinc‐ion batteries are receiving continuous attention because of their advantages of low cost, high safety, environmental friendliness, and high performance, which are difficult to attain with current organic electrolyte‐based batteries. In this work, a high‐performance aqueous Zn‐ion battery based on the organic pigment 3,4,9,10‐perylene‐tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (PTCDA) is developed. An electrochemical test shows that the PTCDA possesses a high specific discharge capacity of 136 mAh·g −1 at a current density of 10 mA·g −1 . Moreover, the PTCDA cathode displays a good rate performance (77 mAh·g −1 at 1 A·g −1 ) and an excellent cycle life with a capacity retention of 80% after 2000 cycles. Furthermore, electrochemical analysis and structural characterization originally reveal that the PTCDA cathode undergoes a sequential Zn 2+ and H 3 O + insertion and extraction process, which is reversible and cycling stable.