Efficient Preparation of Conductive Polymer-Intercalated Vanadium Pentoxide Composite Materials for Aqueous Zinc...

The development of new energy materials means higher requirements for energy storage equipment. Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted much attention due to their high energy density, low cost, safety, and environmental protection. Vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) has high capacity as the cathode material of zinc-ion battery due to its unique layered structure, but its practical application is limited due to its low conductivity and poor cycle performance. In this study, the laboratory-specific microwave-assisted ball-milling technique was used to prepare V₂O₅-polyaniline (PANI), V₂O₅-polypyrrole (PPy), and V₂O₅-poly-(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) composites from V₂O₅ and conductive polymers (CPs). The three materials exhibit excellent electrochemical performance as positive electrode materials for AZIBs, among which V₂O₅-PEDOT has the highest specific capacity and excellent rate performance, with a discharge-specific capacity of up to 543 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 and a capacity retention rate of 35.8% from 0.1 A g^-1 to 5 A g^-1. The insertion/extraction process of Zn²⁺ was analyzed in depth using density functional theory (DFT) calculations and ex-situ XRD characterization, and the reaction mechanism of the conductive polymer-intercalated V₂O₅ composite material in the battery was described.