Electrospinning Preparation of a High-Rate Self-Supported Cathode for Rechargeable Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

Rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted great interest as a result of the features of safety and low cost, but their commercial applications are still impeded by critical issues of the cathode materials, for instance, low effective specific capacity and short cycle life. Herein, a self-supported cathode with a high specific capacity (on the basis of the whole cathode) is fabricated via facile electrospinning. The prepared cathodes have about 10 nm vanadium oxide nanodots encapsuled in the carbon nanofiber with a diameter of 100–150 nm. The fiber film with the unique nanostructure can not only inhibit the vanadium element dissolution but can also be directly used as the cathode, avoiding extra additives. Consequently, the self-support cathode exhibits a satisfactory specific capacity of 319 mAh g–1 (0.1 A g–1), high rate performance of 215 mAh g–1 at a high-current density of 20 A g–1, and outstanding cycle ability (capacity retention of 63% after 18 000 cycles). Our results of the study provide a feasible and promising solution for preparation of a self-support cathode for aqueous ZIBs.