Naphthoquinone-Based Composite Cathodes for Aqueous Rechargeable Zinc-Ion Batteries

. Furthermore, it is uncovered that modifying NQ with functional groups significantly impacts the electrochemical behavior, including the redox potential and capacity retention. With the electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups, dichlone and 2-((4-hydroxyphenyl) amino) naphthalene-1,4-dione (APh-NQ) show better performance than NQ with improved capacity retention from 41.0 to 70.9 and 68.3%, respectively, after 1000 cycles. The work promotes the development of binder-free organic cathodes for the aqueous Zn-ion batteries and sheds light on designing high-performance electrodes for low-cost energy storage systems.