One-Pot Electrochemical Deposition of Polyaniline-MnO₂ Hybrids on Carbon Cloth as Binder-Free Cathode for Flexible Zinc Ion Batteries

Compositing MnO2 with a conductive polymer is an effective strategy for fabricating a high-performance cathode for zinc ion batteries (ZIBs), by tailoring the electronic properties and enhancing the structural stability of pure MnO2. We developed a facile one-pot synthesis of polyaniline (PANI)-MnO2 nanohybrid complexes with nanorod morphology on carbon cloth (CC) by rapid electrochemical techniques, which was then used as the binder-free cathode of ZIBs. In this process, PANI serves as a scaffold to improve the interfacial contact and impedance matching of pure MnO2, and thus the prepared PANI-MnO2/CC cathode possesses faster electron/ion-transport capability, superior Zn storage performance, and strengthened cyclability compared with a MnO2/CC cathode. The assembled PANI-MnO2/CC//Zn cell delivers high specific capacity and energy density (285.3 mA h g–1 and 333.3 W h kg–1, respectively) as well as satisfying cycling stability (keeping stable after 1200 cycles). More impressively, the PANI-MnO2/CC cathode also demonstrates robust interfacial adhesion while assembled into a quasi-solid-state flexible ZIB, suggesting that the one-pot deposition of the PANI-MnO2 composite is a promising method for the design of high-performance flexible ZIBs.