Amorphous Heterostructure Derived from Divalent Manganese Borate for Ultrastable and Ultrafast Aqueous Zinc Ion...

Aqueous zinc-manganese (Zn-Mn) batteries have promising potential in large-scale energy storage applications since they are highly safe, environment-friendly, and low-cost. However, the practicality of Mn-based materials is plagued by their structural collapse and uncertain energy storage mechanism upon cycling. Herein, this work designs an amorphous manganese borate (a-MnBO_x ) material via disordered coordination to alleviate the above issues and improve the electrochemical performance of Zn-Mn batteries. The unique physicochemical characteristic of a-MnBO_x enables the inner a-MnBO_x to serve as a robust framework in the initial energy storage process. Additionally, the amorphous manganese dioxide, amorphous Zn_x MnO(OH)₂ , and Zn₄ SO₄ (OH)₆ ·4H₂ O active components form on the surface of a-MnBO_x during the charge/discharge process. The detailed in situ/ex situ characterization demonstrates that the heterostructure of the inner a-MnBO_x and surface multicomponent phases endows two energy storage modes (Zn²⁺ /H⁺ intercalation/deintercalation process and reversible conversion mechanism between the Zn_x MnO(OH)₂ and Zn₄ SO₄ (OH)₆ ·4H₂ O) phases). Therefore, the obtained Zn//a-MnBO_x battery exhibits a high specific capacity of 360.4 mAh g^-1 , a high energy density of 484.2 Wh kg^-1 , and impressive cycling stability (97.0% capacity retention after 10 000 cycles). This finding on a-MnBO_x with a dual-energy storage mechanism provides new opportunities for developing high-performance aqueous Zn-Mn batteries.