Van der Waals Interaction-Driven Self-Assembly of VO Nanoplates and MXene for High-Performing Zinc-Ion Batteries by Suppressing Vanadium Dissolution.

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs) are attractive energy storage devices that benefit from improved safety and negligible environmental impact. The VO-based cathodes are highly promising, but the dissolution of vanadium is one of the major challenges in realizing their stable performance in AZIBs. Herein, we design a TiCT MXene layer on the surface of VO nanoplates (VPMX) through a van der Waals self-assembly approach for suppressing vanadium dissolution during an electrochemical process for greatly boosting the zinc-ion storage performance. Unlike conventional VO/C composites, we demonstrate that the VPMX hybrids offer three distinguishable features for achieving high-performance AZIBs: (i) the MXene layer on cathode surface maintains structural integrity and suppresses V dissolution; (ii) the heterointerface between VO and MXene enables improved host electrochemical kinetics; (iii) reduced electrostatic repulsion exists among host layers owing to the lubricating water molecules in the VPMX cathode, facilitating interfacial Zn diffusion. As a result, the as-made VPMX cathode shows a long-term cycling stability over 5000 cycles, surpassing other reported VO-based materials. Especially, we find that the heterointerface between VO and MXene and lubricated water molecules in the host can achieve an enhanced rate capability (243.6 mAh g at 5.0 A g) for AZIBs.