Preparation and electrochemical properties of manganese dioxide flexible electrode for zinc ion batteries

Manganese dioxide (MnO2), a common cathode material for zinc ion batteries, has attracted much attention because of its abundant reserves in nature, good safety and high theoretical capacity. One of the key issues in the preparation of high-performance zinc ion batteries is the construction of cathodes with stable microstructures. In this paper, highly flexible and conductive carbon cloth (CC) was selected as the substrate, and carbon cloth@manganese dioxide (CC@MnO2) cathodes were prepared using electrochemical deposition and reduction deposition methods, respectively, and further assembled into button-type zinc ion batteries. The test results show that the Zn//CC@MnO2 battery based on the reduction deposition method possesses excellent zinc storage performance (current density at 0.1 A·g-1 can provide a maximum discharge specific capacity of 291 mAh·g-1), energy density (485.7 Wh·kg-l) and cycling stability (capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 1 A·g-1 current density of (90.48%, and the Coulomb efficiency is as high as 99.87%). In this paper, the optimized preparation process of CC@MnO2 electrodes based on reduction deposition method is discussed in depth, which provides an important reference for the development of high-performance Zn-ion batteries.