Open AccessStabilized Molybdenum Trioxide Nanowires as Novel Ultrahigh‐Capacity Cathode for Rechargeable Zinc Ion Battery
Author(s) -
He Xinjun,
Zhang Haozhe,
Zhao Xingyu,
Zhang Peng,
Chen Minghua,
Zheng Zhikun,
Han Zhiji,
Zhu Tingshun,
Tong Yexiang,
Lu Xihong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.201900151
Subject(s) - molybdenum trioxide , nanowire , materials science , cathode , battery (electricity) , molybdenum , nanowire battery , zinc , ion , nanotechnology , inorganic chemistry , chemical engineering , lithium ion battery , metallurgy , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , power (physics)
Exploration of high‐performance cathode materials for rechargeable aqueous Zn ion batteries (ZIBs) is highly desirable. The potential of molybdenum trioxide (MoO 3 ) in other electrochemical energy storage devices has been revealed but held understudied in ZIBs. Herein, a demonstration of orthorhombic MoO 3 as an ultrahigh‐capacity cathode material in ZIBs is presented. The energy storage mechanism of the MoO 3 nanowires based on Zn 2+ intercalation/deintercalation and its electrochemical instability mechanism are particularly investigated and elucidated. The severe capacity decay of the MoO 3 nanowires during charging/discharging cycles arises from the dissolution and the structural collapse of MoO 3 in aqueous electrolyte. To this end, an effective strategy to stabilize MoO 3 nanowires by using a quasi‐solid‐state poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA)/ZnCl 2 gel electrolyte to replace the aqueous electrolyte is developed. The capacity retention of the assembled ZIBs after 400 charge/discharge cycles at 6.0 A g −1 is significantly boosted, from 27.1% (in aqueous electrolyte) to 70.4% (in gel electrolyte). More remarkably, the stabilized quasi‐solid‐state ZIBs achieve an attracting areal capacity of 2.65 mAh cm −2 and a gravimetric capacity of 241.3 mAh g −1 at 0.4 A g −1 , outperforming most of recently reported ZIBs.