Cathode materials have impeded the development of aqueous Zn batteries (AZBs) for a long time due to their low capacity and poor cycling stability. Here, a "two birds with one stone" strategy is devised to optimize the Ni-Co hydroxide cathode material (NCH) for AZBs, which plays an essential role in both composition adjustment and morphology majorization. The F-doped Ni-Co hydroxide (FNCH) exhibits a unique nanoarray structure consisting of the 2D flake-like unit, furnishing abundant active sites for the redox reaction. A series of analyses prove that FNCH delivers improved electrical conductivity and enhanced electrochemical activity. Contributing to the unique morphology and adjusted characteristics, FNCH presents a higher discharge-specific capacity, more advantageous rate capability and competitive cycling stability than NCH. As a result, an aqueous Zn battery assembled with a FNCH cathode and Zn anode exhibits a high capacity of 0.23 mAh cm-2 at 1 mA cm-2, and retains 0.10 mAh cm-2 at 10 mA cm-2. More importantly, the FNCH-Zn battery demonstrates no capacity decay after 3000 cycles with a conspicuous capacity of 0.15 mAh cm-2 at 8 mA cm-2, indicating a superior cycling performance. This work provides a facile approach to develop high-performance cathodes for aqueous Zn batteries.
Keywords: F doping; Ni–Co hydroxide; aqueous Zn battery; hierarchical morphology; tunable composition.