Construction of V₂O₅@MXene Cathodes toward a High Specific Capacity Aqueous Aluminum-Ion Battery

Aqueous aluminum-ion batteries (AAIBs) are considered a strong candidate for the new generation of energy storage devices. The lack of suitable cathode materials has been a bottleneck factor hindering the future development of AAIBs. In this work, we design and construct a highly effective cathode with dual morphologies. Two-dimensional (2D) layered MXene materials possessed good conductivity and hydrophilicity, which are used as the substrates to deposit rod-shaped vanadium oxides (V₂O₅) to form a three-dimensional (3D) cathode. The cathode design provides a strong boost for the rapid electrochemical activities of rod-shaped V₂O₅ by embedding/extracting both protons (H⁺) and aluminum-ion (Al³⁺). As a result, the V₂O₅@MXene cathode based AAIB delivers an ultrahigh initial specific capacity of 626 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g with a stable cycle performance up to 100 cycles. This work is a breakthrough for the development of cathode materials for AAIBs.