Electrostatic adsorption driven self-assembly of V₂O₅·4VO₂ nanoribbons and MXene for fast and stable Zn²⁺ storage

Aqueous zinc ion batteries have become highly favored energy storage devices owing to low cost and environmental friendliness. Vanadium oxide, as one of the potential cathodes for AZIBs, is plagued by several unfavorable elements including unsatisfactory conductivity and vanadium dissolution in the electrolyte. Herein, an electrostatic self-assembly strategy is proposed to introduce conductive dielectric Ti₃C₂T_x MXene nanoplates into V₂O₅·4VO₂ nanoribbons, where V₂O₅·4VO₂/MXene composites (denoted as VM2) are simply obtained by magnetic stirring combined with ultrasonic method at room temperature. The successful introduction of MXene with high electrical conductivity not only endows faster V₂O₅·4VO₂ electron/ion transfer, but also acts as a "baffle" to inhibit vanadium dissolution. Benefiting from the above advantages, paired with a zinc metal anode, VM2 cathode exhibits impressive performance metrics of 328.7 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.1 A·g⁻¹, 95.8% capacity retention after 1000 cycles, and 142.9 mAh·g⁻¹ at a current density of 20 A·g⁻¹. This work provides a viable reference for the development of high-performance AZIBs.