Polyethylene (PE) reduction method towards V2O3@C-PE as cathode of zinc ion batteries with high stability and capacity

Vanadium-based aqueous zinc ion batteries materials have high theoretical specific capacity and have advantages in energy storage. But poor conductivity, stability and high manufacturing cost are not conducive to its development. In this work, we prepare V 2 O 3 @C-PE by reducing ammonium metavanadate (NH 4 VO 3 ) with low-cost polyethylene (PE). PE creates a large amount of hole structure for the V 2 O 3 @C-PE sample, and the V 2 O 3 agglomeration is inhibited by the combination of reduced V 2 O 3 and PE carbon. In ZnSO 4 electrolyte system, the specific capacity of V 2 O 3 @C-PE electrode reaches 393 mA h g −1 at the current density of 0.1 A g −1 , and the capacity retention and specific capacity are 97.3 % and 223 mA h g −1 after 1600 cycles at 20 A g −1 . In addition, through the study of zinc storage mechanism, the V 2 O 3 @C-PE electrode is oxidized to V 5 O 12 ·6H 2 O when first charged and then stores zinc in this form. Due to the excellent electrochemical performance and low manufacturing cost of V 2 O 3 @C-PE electrode, we consider it potentially competitive in the field of energy storage.