In-situ cation-inserted MnO2 with selective accelerated intercalation of individual H+ or Zn2+ ions in aqueous zinc ion batteries

Abstract

The recognized energy storage mechanism of neutral aqueous zinc–manganese batteries is the co–insertion/extrusion of H+ and Zn2+ ions. However, modulating the kinetics of a single H+ or Zn2+ ion is scarce, which can provide meaningful insights into the energy storage mechanism of Zn ion batteries. Herein, a distinctive doubly electric field in-situ induced cationic anchoring of two-dimensional layered MnO2 is successfully constructed to modulate the insertion/extrusion of a single H+ or Zn2+ ion. As a result, regulating the intercalation of different metal ions can precisely achieve the accelerated induction for the individual H+ or Zn2+ ions intercalation/deintercalation. Moreover, the introduction of metal ions stabilizes the lattice distortion and alleviates the irreparable structural collapse, leading to an increase in the H+/Zn2+ storage sites, efficiently diminishing the stagnation of the ordered structure and creating the more open channels, which is conducive to facilitating the diffusion of ions. This work delivers some innovative insights into pre-embedding strategies, and also serves as a precious reference for the cathode development of advanced aqueous batteries.