Recent progress on organic–inorganic hybrid cathodes for aqueous zinc ion batteries

Abstract

High-performance aqueous zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) are of huge potential in utilizing renewable and clean energy sources. However, the single inorganic or organic cathodes for ZIBs, suffering from poor electron/ion conductivity, limited active sites, and unstable structure, are difficult to achieve this task. Fortunately, the inorganic-organic hybrid strategy shows integrated advantages in overcoming these drawbacks, and a detailed overview of the recent progress of organic-inorganic hybrid cathodes for ZIBs and clear the internal synergy mechanism should be helpful to provide a systematic understanding of the latest progress in this field and further achieve higher Zn-storage performance. Herein, the types and advantages of organic-inorganic hybrid cathodes for ZIBs are first introduced. Secondly, a summarization of the advantages and application of organic-inorganic hybrid cathodes in ZIBs, from promoting the electron/ion conductivity, combining more active sites for Zn-storage, stabilizing structure integrity and improving the overall performances, is presented. Finally, the prospects and challenges of organic-inorganic hybrid cathodes towards ZIBs with much higher performance are presented, which should shed light on the future scientific research and practical application of organic-inorganic hybrid cathodes in energy storage fields.

Keywords

• Aqueous zinc ion batteries
• Organic-inorganic hybrid cathodes
• Energy storage
• Overall improved performance