Defect engineering on V2O3 cathode for long-cycling aqueous zinc metal batteries

Defect engineering is a strategy that is attracting widespread attention for the possibility of modifying battery active materials in order to improve the cycling stability of the electrodes. However, accurate investigation and quantification of the effect of the defects on the electrochemical energy storage performance of the cell are not trivial tasks. Herein, we report the quantification of vanadium-defective clusters (i.e., up to 5.7%) in the V2O3 lattice via neutron and X-ray powder diffraction measurements, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, and synchrotron-based X-ray analysis. When the vanadium-defective V2O3 is employed as cathode active material in an aqueous Zn coin cell configuration, capacity retention of about 81% after 30,000 cycles at 5 A g(-1) is achieved. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the vanadium-defective clusters can provide favorable sites for reversible Zn-ion storage. Moreover, the vanadium-defective clusters allow the storage of Zn ions in V2O3, which reduces the electrostatic interaction between the host material and the multivalent ions. Aqueous Zn metal batteries are a promising system for high-power electrochemical energy storage. Here, the authors investigate a defective V2O3 cathode via neutron and X-ray techniques and test the material in Zn metal cell configuration for 30k cycles.

Automated summary

Defect engineering is being used to modify battery active materials for improved cycling stability of electrodes. This study quantified vanadium-defective clusters in the V2O3 lattice and found that the defects lead to favorable sites for reversible Zn-ion storage in aqueous Zn coin cell configuration, resulting in 81% capacity retention after 30,000 cycles at 5 A g(-1). The findings suggest that aqueous Zn metal batteries with vanadium-defective V2O3 cathodes could be a promising system for high-power electrochemical energy storage.