DNA Coordination Engineering of Dual-Metal Prussian Blue Analogs for Accelerated Zn^{2 +} Storage

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are considered promising energy storage systems due to their safety, low cost, and environmental compatibility. Among various cathode materials, Prussian blue analogs (PBAs) are attractive because of their open framework and efficient ion transport pathways. However, their performance is often limited by structural instability and sluggish reaction kinetics. Herein, DNA-mediated strategy is employed to synthesize CuMn hexacyanoferrate (CuMn-HCF) with a controlled porous structure via a simple engineering with a co-precipitation process. The incorporation of DNA regulates nucleation and crystal growth, resulting in a more uniform porous morphology while introducing beneficial local lattice defects that increase the number of electrochemically active sites. As a result, the DNA-modified CuMn-HCF electrode delivers high reversible capacity along with excellent cycling stability, maintaining ∼71.35% capacity retention over 30 000 cycles with a low decay rate of ∼0.00095% per cycle. The enhanced performance is attributed to accelerated Zn^{2 +} diffusion and reduced charge-transfer resistance, as confirmed by kinetic analysis. In addition, the assembled device exhibits high energy density with good power performance. This work highlights the potential of biomolecule DNA-mediated design as a sustainable and effective approach for developing advanced cathodes for next-generation AZIB applications.