Amorphous organic-hybrid vanadium oxide for near-barrier-free ultrafast-charging aqueous zinc-ion battery

Fast-charging metal-ion batteries are essential for advancing energy storage technologies, but their performance is often limited by the high activation energy (E_a) required for ion diffusion in solids. Addressing this challenge has been particularly difficult for multivalent ions like Zn²⁺. Here, we present an amorphous organic-hybrid vanadium oxide (AOH-VO), featuring one-dimensional chains arranged in a disordered structure with atomic/molecular-level pores for promoting hierarchical ion diffusion pathways and reducing Zn²⁺ interactions with the solid skeleton. AOH-VO cathode demonstrates an exceptionally low E_a of 7.8 kJ·mol^-1 for Zn²⁺ diffusion in solids and 6.3 kJ·mol^-1 across the cathode-electrolyte interface, both significantly lower than that of electrolyte (13.2 kJ·mol^-1) in zinc ion battery. This enables ultrafast charge-discharge performance, with an Ah-level pouch cell achieving 81.3% of its capacity in just 9.5 minutes and retaining 90.7% capacity over 5000 cycles. These findings provide a promising pathway toward stable, ultrafast-charging battery technologies with near-barrier-free ion dynamics.