Three-Dimensional Manganese Oxide@Carbon Networks as Free-Standing, High-Loading Cathodes for High-Performance Zinc-Ion Batteries

Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs), which are inexpensive and environmentally friendly, have a lot of potential for use in grid-scale energy storage systems, but their use is constrained by the availability of suitable cathode materials. MnO₂-based cathodes are emerging as a promising contenders, due to the great availability and safety, as well as the device's stable output voltage platform (1.5 V). Improving the slow kinetics of MnO₂-based cathodes caused by low electrical conductivity and mass diffusion rate is a challenge for their future use in next-generation rapid charging devices. Herein, the aforementioned challenges are overcome by proposing a sodium-intercalated manganese oxide (NMO) with 3D varying thinness carbon nanotubes (VTCNTs) networks as appropriate free-standing, binder-free cathodes (NMO/VTCNTs) without any heat treatment. A network construction strategy based on CNTs of different diameters is proposed for the first time to provide high specific capacity while achieving high mass loading. The specific capacity of as-prepared cathodes is significantly increased. The resulting free-standing binder-free cathodes achieve excellent capacity (329 mAh g⁻¹ after 120 cycles at 0.2 A g⁻¹ and 225 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles at 1 A g⁻¹) and long-term cycling stability (158 mAh g⁻¹ at 2 A g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles).