High-performance carbon-coated hollow nanocube ZnSe as cathode material for aluminum batteries

Although the cathode materials of aluminum batteries have been extensively valued, their further development has encountered bottlenecks due to their low discharge capacity and low working voltage platform. In this study, we successfully prepare carbon-coated hollow nanocube ZnSe ([email protected]) by the selenization process of the zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67). The energy storage mechanism is found by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical analysis that the reversible reaction Se2-/Sex+ in [email protected] can be carried out during the electrochemical cycles. Moreover, the first and second capacities of [email protected] are 396.2 and 472.6 mA h g−1 at 0.2 A g−1, respectively. After 100 cycles, the capacity is still as high as 197.1 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1. In addition, the working voltage (1.8 V) is much higher than the other cathode material of aluminum batteries such as oxides, sulfides, and phosphides. Therefore, it is obvious that the carbon-coated ZnSe constructed by ZIF-67 is beneficial to the research for aluminum batteries.