Citation: Weifeng HUANG, Jingteng FENG, Xin WANG, Zhilong XU, Jiaxin LI, Guanghui SUN, Yan SUN, Yao SUN, Xi LIU, Yinfeng CHENG, Guangri XU, Li YANG. In-situ self-assembly of hydrated vanadium pentoxide on Zn foil for stable Zn anodes[J]. Chinese Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, ;2026, 42(3): 562-570. doi: 10.11862/CJIC.20250267 shu

In-situ self-assembly of hydrated vanadium pentoxide on Zn foil for stable Zn anodes

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, Henan 453003, China

Corresponding author: Weifeng HUANG, wfhuang@hist.edu.cn
Received Date: 20 August 2025
Revised Date: 21 January 2026

Figures(7)

An in-situ self-assembly approach was employed to fabricate a zinc anode with a protective layer ofhydrated vanadium pentoxide (HVO) through direct growth on the zinc foil surface (named VOZn). The thickness of the protective layer can be precisely controlled by adjusting the self-assembly duration of the HVO suspension. The in-situ formation of the HVO layer ensures strong interfacial adhesion between the protective layer and the Zn substrate, thereby minimizing delamination during repeated charge-discharge cycles. More importantly, the presence of abundant oxygen-containing functional groups in HVO significantly enhances the zincophilicity of the anode surface, promoting uniform Zn²⁺ ion distribution and facilitating homogeneous nucleation and deposition of metallic zinc. Furthermore, the protective layer serve as an effective physical barrier that limits direct contact between free water molecules in the electrolyte and the zinc anode, thereby suppressing undesirable side reactions. As a result, the resulting composite electrode exhibited a notably low overpotential of 37 mV and long cycling stability of 700 h at 0.5 mA·cm^-2. More impressively, the full cells based on the VOZn showed a long cycle life of 1 000 cycles with a high capacity retention of 71%.
- aqueous zinc-ion battery,
- zinc anode,
- self-assembling,
- hydrated vanadium pentoxide
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