Abstract
Aqueous zinc-ion battery (ZIB) cathodes with high rate performance are still lacking due to the sluggish kinetics of Zn2+ insertion. Herein, preferential 2D spreading surface is constructed on conductive carbon paper (C-paper) supports by disclosing hierarchical porous structures. The unique surface hydrophilicity enables anisotropic growth of layered Al-intercalated vanadate nanobelts with high-aspect ratios. As a cathode of ZIB, the preintercalated vanadate nanobelts with a large interlayer spacing (1.38 nm) exhibit high specific capacities and excellent rate performance (534 and 221 mA h g(-1) at 1 and 20 A g(-1), respectively). Moreover, chemically resistant HfO2 layers are applied by atomic layer deposition to prevent effectively the cathode from degradation, leading to an outstanding cycling stability (88% retention at 1000 cycle). The anisotropic growth of 2D electrode materials by tuning the surface hydrophilicity provides an effective pathway for designing improved electrode materials for various energy storage technologies.