Agar‐Assisted Biopolymer‐Templated Carbon‐Coated Interfaces Facilitate Advanced ZnV 2 O 4 Anode Materials for High‐Stability Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Zinc vanadate is regarded as a superior competitor to replace commercial carbon‐based anodes due to its exceptionally high lithium storage capacity and ideal operating voltage. Herein, ZnV 2 O 4 nanocomposites with carbon‐coated layers (ZVO/C) were synthesized via an agar‐assisted biopolymer‐templated strategy combined with freeze‐drying and carbonization processes, and the excellent electrochemical performance of ZVO/C as an anode material for lithium‐ion batteries was verified. The introduced carbon‐coated structure effectively mitigates the performance limitations of vanadate materials in terms of structural stability, whilst optimizing the interfacial charge transfer pathways. The optimized ZVO/C‐2 anode exhibited excellent rate performance and cycle stability, maintaining a discharge specific capacity of approximately 650 mAh·g −1 after 500 cycles at a current density of 0.5 A·g −1 , and about 520 mAh·g −1 after 1300 cycles at the higher current density of 1 A·g −1 . This work not only reveals the performance mechanism of ZVO/C‐2, but also provides a viable strategy for synthesizing optimal vanadate‐based lithium‐ion battery anodes.