High-Capacity and Long-Lifespan Aqueous LiV3O8/Zn Battery Using Zn/Li Hybrid Electrolyte

Qiang Pang; Xiangyu Yu; Shijing Zhang; Wei He; Siyu Yang; Yao Fu; Ying Tian; Mingming Xing; Xixian Luo

doi:10.3390/nano11061429

High-Capacity and Long-Lifespan Aqueous LiV₃O₈/Zn Battery Using Zn/Li Hybrid Electrolyte

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2021 May 28;11(6):1429. doi: 10.3390/nano11061429.

Authors

Qiang Pang^{1

2}, Xiangyu Yu¹, Shijing Zhang¹, Wei He¹, Siyu Yang¹, Yao Fu¹, Ying Tian¹, Mingming Xing¹, Xixian Luo¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Science, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China.
² College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China.

Abstract

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are promising candidates for large-scale energy storage because of their low cost and high safety. However, their practical applications are impeded by low energy density and short service life. Here, an aqueous Zn²⁺/Li⁺ hybrid-ion battery is fabricated using the LiV₃O₈ nanorods as the cathode, metallic Zn as the anode, and 3 M Zn(OTf)₂ + 0.5 M LiOTf aqueous solution as the electrolyte. Compared with the batteries using pure 3 M Zn(OTf)₂ electrolyte, the cycle performance of the hybrid-ion battery is significantly improved. After 4000 cycles at 5 A g¹, the remaining capacity is 163.9 mA h g^-1 with impressive capacity retention of 87.0%. Ex-situ XRD, ex-situ XPS, and SEM tests demonstrate that the hybrid electrolyte can inhibit the formation of the irreversible Zn₃(OH)₂V₂O₇·2H₂O by-product and restrict Zn dendrite growth during cycling, thereby improving the cycle performance of the batteries.

Keywords: LiV3O8; Zn-ion battery; aqueous battery; cathode material; hybrid electrolyte.