Improving the Cycling Stability of Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries by Preintercalation of Polyaniline in Hydrated Vanadium Oxide

Thispaper reports the synthesis and characterization of hydratedvanadium oxide (VOH) and chemically preintercalated polyanilines inVOH, labeled as PAVO-H as the cathode material for aqueous zinc-ionbatteries. Synthesized PAVO-H has a high surface area and rod-shapedmorphology. PAVO-H has an increased interlayer distance of 13.36 & ANGS;.PAVO-H offers high specific capacities of 330 and 225 mAh g(-1) at 50 mA g(-1) and 4 A g(-1) ofcurrent densities, respectively, with a 92% capacity retention rateof over 3000 cycles. The preintercalation of polyaniline is likelyto catalyze the redox reaction and facilitate and simplify transportkinetics. It is also possible that the preintercalation of polyanilinepermits the insertion of large hydrated Zn ions and reduces the formationof zinc basic salts.