Two‐dimensional V2CTx in‐situ derived porous V2O3@C flakes towards zinc ion capacitors as a competitive cathode material

Zinc-ion capacitors (ZICs) are promising electrochemical devices for energy storage due to their advantages including environmental friendliness, safety, and simple assembly. However, its application is still subject to modest rate and stable performance of the involved cathodes. In this work, we in-situ fabricate a two-dimensional flake-shape framework containing amorphous carbon-coated V2O3 nanowires (V2O3@C) by using few-layered V2CTx (f-V2CTx) as the raw material, and further utilize it as an appealing cathode material for ZICs. Thanks to the nanowires-assembled porous architecture, conductive carbon coating, and rich defects through in-situ lattice tunnel distortion of corundum-type V2O3, the V2O3@C cathode delivers an excellent rate capability of similar to 175 mAh g(-1) at 8.0 A g(-1), and the stable long-term cycling behavior (similar to 168.0 mAh g(-1) remained after 6500 cycle at 5.0 A g(-1)s). Furthermore, the V2O3@C based ZICs exhibit a specific energy density of similar to 36.3 Wh kg(-1) and a long-term cycle life with a capacity retention value of 74.3% after 10,000 cycles at 1.0 A g(-1). This highlights that our V2O3@C is a competitive cathode candidate for advanced ZICs.