Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted significant attention for large‐scale energy storage due to their intrinsic safety, low cost, and environmental compatibility. However, sluggish Zn 2+ diffusion kinetics and high desolvation energy severely restrict the performance of conventional cathode materials. Herein, we report the scalable low‐temperature hydrothermal synthesis of widely interlayered mixed phase hydrated vanadium oxide nanobelts (V 2 O 5 ·1.6H 2 O/V 2 O 5 ·3H 2 O, HVO) as an efficient cathode for AZIBs. The incorporation of structural water molecules expands the interlayer spacing and forms hydrogen‐bonding networks that facilitate Zn 2+ diffusion and improves reversibility. Moreover, the nanobelt morphology containing surface cracks enhances electrolyte penetration and shortens ion transport pathways. The HVO cathode delivers a high specific capacity of 510 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 , exhibiting hybrid charge storage behavior involving diffusion‐controlled intercalation and dominant pseudocapacitive contributions. The use of zinc trifluoro methane sulfonate electrolyte promotes the formation of a stable perfluoropolyether‐derived cathode‐electrolyte interphase, improving interfacial stability and suppressing parasitic reactions. Consequently, the electrode retains 74.03% of its capacity after 6000 cycles at 10 A g −1 . Post‐cycling analysis reveals partial transformation into Zn 3 (OH) 2 V 2 O 7 ·2H 2 O due to H + /Zn 2+ co‐intercalation. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of hydration engineering for improving structural stability and ion transport in vanadium oxide cathodes for advanced AZIBs.
Rani et al. (Thu,) studied this question.