Polypyrrole-coated V2O5 nanobelts arrays on carbon cloth for high performance zinc energy storage

V 2 O 5 is considered as a promising cathode material for zinc ion batteries due to its abundance, low-cost, layered structure and high capacity. However, low electronic conductivity, vanadium dissolution accompanied with sluggish ion transport kinetics, severely limit its electrochemical performance. Herein, the polypyrrole-coated V 2 O 5 nanobelts arrays grown on carbon cloth (PPy@V 2 O 5 /CC) are rationally designed and prepared by combination of solvothermal and vapor-phase polymerization process. The resultant flexible PPy@V 2 O 5 /CC electrode delivers a high specific capacity of 276 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 , an excellent rate capability of 185 mAh g −1 at 10 A g −1 , and extraordinary long-term cycling stability with 76% capacity retention after 8000 cycles at 5 A g −1 , better than V 2 O 5 /CC. The significant enhancement can be attributed to the PPy protective layer, which can simultaneously achieve higher electronic conduction, suppressed vanadium dissolution, enhanced surface pseudocapacitive behavior, and faster Zn 2+ diffusion rate. This work offers a novel strategy for constructing high-performance micro/nano functional composites for electrochemical energy storage system.