Layered barium vanadate nanobelts for high-performance aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are deemed as the idea option for large-scale energy storage systems owing to many alluring merits including low manufacture cost, environmental friendliness, and high operations safety. However, to develop high-performance cathode is still significant for practical application of ZIBs. Herein, Ba_0.23V₂O₅·1.1H₂O (BaVO) nanobelts were fabricated as cathode materials of ZIBs by a typical hydrothermal synthesis method. Benefiting from the increased interlayer distance of 1.31 nm by Ba²⁺ and H₂O pre-intercalated, the obtained BaVO nanobelts showed an excellent initial discharge capacity of 378 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.1 A·g⁻¹, a great rate performance (e.g., 172 mAh·g⁻¹ at 5 A·g⁻¹), and a superior capacity retention (93% after 2000 cycles at 5 A·g⁻¹).