Toward a High-Performance Aqueous Zinc Ion Battery: Potassium Vanadate Nanobelts and Carbon Enhanced Zinc Foil

Aqueous rechargeable zinc ion batteries are promising candidates for grid-scale applications owing to their low cost and high safety. However, they are plagued by the lack of suitable cathode and anode materials. Herein, we report on potassium vanadate (KVO) nanobelts as a promising cathode for an aqueous zinc ion battery, which shows a high discharge capacity of 461 mA h g–1 at 0.2 A g–1 and exhibits a capacity retention of 96.2% over 4000 cycles at 10 A g–1. Furthermore, to enhance the energy efficiency in an aqueous zinc ion battery, a facile and effective method on the anode is demonstrated. The energy efficiency increases from 47.5% for Zn//KVO coupled with the zinc foil anode to 66.5% for AB-Zn//KVO coupled with an acetylene black film improved zinc foil anode at 10 A g–1. The remarkable electrochemical performance makes AB-Zn//KVO a strong candidate for a high-performance aqueous zinc ion battery.