Design and Synthesis of Core-Shell Nanospheres Composed of Heterostructured V₂O₅-CeVO₄ Toward Efficient Zn-Ion...

The development of suitable cathode materials is a major scientific challenge for aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs). Although vanadium oxides have demonstrated encouraging results, challenges such as sluggish reaction kinetics and severe capacity decay caused by unstable crystal structure and vanadium dissolution still hinder their further application. Herein, Ce-glycerate nanospheres are used as a self-engaged template to construct core-shell nanospheres composed of heterostructured V₂O₅-CeVO₄ (denoted as VO-CeVO) by an anion-exchange strategy. The unique heterostructure with abundant active sites, large specific surface area, and core-shell design not only boosts ion/electron migration but also inhibits volume change and vanadium dissolution during the repeated Zn²⁺ ion insertion/extraction processes, enabling enhanced Zn²⁺ ion storage performance and structural stability. As expected, the VO-CeVO cathode delivers a high capacity of 346.3 mAh g^-1 at 0.5 A g^-1, excellent rate capability (257.0 mAh g^-1 at 10 A g^-1), and outstanding cycling performance (over 10 000 cycles).