Ultrafast and High Charge Capability Aluminum-Ion Storage With Long Term Stability.

Abstract

Aqueous aluminum-ion batteries (AAIBs) are promising for large-scale energy storage due to their low cost, high safety, and environmental friendliness, while Prussian blue analogues (PBAs), with their open frameworks, are attractive cathode materials for future AAIB applications. However, poor stability and long charging times, arising from strong lattice distortion, intense electrostatic interactions, and sluggish ion migration kinetics, remain major obstacles to the practical application of AAIBs. Despite significant efforts to overcome these limitations, their charging rate and cycling performance still fall short of industrial requirements. Here we report an engineered PBAs cathode with ultrafast charge capability and long term stability by nickel-induced electronic self-compensation strategy to effectively suppress lattice distortion and accelerate Al3+ ion diffusion in NiCuHCF. Such cathode delivers an ultrahigh charge capability, achieving a capacity retention of 74.6% after 1600 cycles at 1.0 A g-1, corresponding capacity loss of only ∼0.016% per cycle, and an unprecedented charge rate of 180 C with a charging time of 20 s, far outperforming all previously reported PBAs cathodes. This research provides an ultrafast charging and long-term cathode material based on PBAs with facile and low cost large-scale production to meet industrial requirements for durable AAIBs.