Amorphous V₂CTx MXene Cathodes Enable High-Performance Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries

Scientists in China have created a high-performance cathode material for zinc-ion batteries by carefully converting a layered MXene material into an amorphous form. The new material, called amorphous V₂CT_x (a-V₂CT_x), shows remarkable improvements in battery capacity, charging speed, and durability.

“Zinc-ion batteries are a safe and low-cost alternative to lithium-ion batteries, but their performance has been limited by sluggish ion movement and poor stability in traditional cathode materials,” explains lead author Guangcai Zhao.  “We found that by heating the MXene material under controlled conditions, they could transform its ordered crystalline structure into a disordered amorphous one while keeping its conductive framework intact.”

This structural change creates more active sites for zinc ions to attach, speeds up ion movement, and raises the vanadium oxidation state, enabling more efficient energy storage. “As a result, the a-V₂CT_x cathode achieves a high reversible capacity of 543 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 A g⁻¹ and maintains 494 mAh g⁻¹ even at a very high current of 30 A g⁻¹. It also shows excellent stability, retaining 286 mAh g⁻¹ after 3000 cycles,” adds Zhao.

“Our amorphization strategy effectively tackles the key limitations of vanadium-based cathodes—slow ion diffusion and low conductivity—without sacrificing structural integrity,” says corresponding author Ting He. “This approach could open new avenues for designing high-rate, long-life battery materials.”

The team also demonstrated the practical potential of the material by assembling a pouch cell that could power a small fan, highlighting its suitability for real-world applications.

Contact author:

Ting He, Tongji University, heting@tongji.edu.cn

Funder: 

National Natural Science Foundation (52302284), Shanghai Sailing Program (23YF1412200), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (22120240314)

Conflict of interest:

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

See the article:

Zhao, G. et al., From Crystalline to Amorphous: V₂CTx MXene Cathodes Enable High-Capacity and Long-Life Aqueous Zinc-Ion Batteries, Green Chemical Engineering (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gce.2025.12.001