A comparison study of MnO2 and Mn2O3 as zinc-ion battery cathodes: an experimental and computational investigation

Hongyuan Shen; Binbin Liu; Zanxiang Nie; Zixuan Li; Shunyu Jin; Yuan Huang; Hang Zhou

doi:10.1039/d1ra00346a

A comparison study of MnO₂ and Mn₂O₃ as zinc-ion battery cathodes: an experimental and computational investigation

RSC Adv. 2021 Apr 19;11(24):14408-14414. doi: 10.1039/d1ra00346a. eCollection 2021 Apr 15.

Authors

Hongyuan Shen¹, Binbin Liu², Zanxiang Nie³, Zixuan Li², Shunyu Jin⁴, Yuan Huang⁵, Hang Zhou²

Affiliations

¹ College of Information Science and Engineering, Northeastern University Shenyang PR China shenhongyuan@ise.neu.edu.cn.
² School of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School Shenzhen 518055 PR China.
³ Zinergy Shenzhen Ltd. Floor 6, Building H, Gangzhilong Science Park, Longhua Shenzhen 518109 PR China.
⁴ Center for Micro- and Nanoscale Research and Fabrication, University of Science and Technology of China Hefei 23000 PR China.
⁵ School of Microelectronics Science and Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University Guangzhou PR China.

Abstract

The high specific capacity, low cost and environmental friendliness make manganese dioxide materials promising cathode materials for zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs). In order to understand the difference between the electrochemical behavior of manganese dioxide materials with different valence states, i.e., Mn(iii) and Mn(iv), we investigated and compared the electrochemical properties of pure MnO₂ and Mn₂O₃ as ZIB cathodes via a combined experimental and computational approach. The MnO₂ electrode showed a higher discharging capacity (270.4 mA h g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1) and a superior rate performance (125.7 mA h g^-1 at 3 A g^-1) than the Mn₂O₃ electrode (188.2 mA h g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 and 87 mA h g^-1 at 3 A g^-1, respectively). The superior performance of the MnO₂ electrode was ascribed to its higher specific surface area, higher electronic conductivity and lower diffusion barrier of Zn²⁺ compared to the Mn₂O₃ electrode. This study provides a detailed picture of the diversity of manganese dioxide electrodes as ZIB cathodes.