An Ultrastable and High‐Performance Flexible Fiber‐Shaped Ni–Zn Battery based on a Ni–NiO Heterostructured Nanosheet Cathode

Abstract

Currently, the main bottleneck for the widespread application of Ni–Zn batteries is their poor cycling stability as a result of the irreversibility of the Ni-based cathode and dendrite formation of the Zn anode during the charging–discharging processes. Herein, a highly rechargeable, flexible, fiber-shaped Ni–Zn battery with impressive electrochemical performance is rationally demonstrated by employing Ni–NiO heterostructured nanosheets as the cathode. Benefiting from the improved conductivity and enhanced electroactivity of the Ni–NiO heterojunction nanosheet cathode, the as-fabricated fiber-shaped Ni–NiO//Zn battery displays high capacity and admirable rate capability. More importantly, this Ni–NiO//Zn battery shows unprecedented cyclic durability both in aqueous (96.6% capacity retention after 10 000 cycles) and polymer (almost no capacity attenuation after 10 000 cycles at 22.2 A g⁻¹) electrolytes. Moreover, a peak energy density of 6.6 µWh cm⁻², together with a remarkable power density of 20.2 mW cm⁻², is achieved by the flexible quasi-solid-state fiber-shaped Ni–NiO//Zn battery, outperforming most reported fiber-shaped energy-storage devices. Such a novel concept of a fiber-shaped Ni–Zn battery with impressive stability will greatly enrich the flexible energy-storage technologies for future portable/wearable electronic applications.