Insight on Cathodes Chemistry for Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries: From Reaction Mechanisms, Structural Engineering, and Modification Strategies

By virtue of low cost, eco-friendliness, competitive gravimetric energy density, and intrinsic safety, more and more attention has increasingly focused on aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) as a promising alternative for scalable energy storage. However, plagued by a complex interfacial process, sluggish dynamics, lability of electrodes and electrolytes, insufficient energy density, and poor cycle life heavily restrict practical applications of AZIBs, indicating that profound understandings on cathode storage chemistry are necessarily needed. Hence, this paper comprehensively summarizes recent advance in cathodes with critical insight on the energy storage mechanism. Furthermore, the issues and challenges for high-performance cathodes are meticulously explored, presenting inspiring structural engineering and modification strategies. Finally, rational evaluations on representative cathodes are rendered, suggesting the potential development direction of AZIBs.