Controllable etching construction of nickel-based Prussian blue analog nanocages for stabilized energy storage in aqueous nickel-zinc batteries
Ziming Qiu, Songtao Zhang, Hao Lin, Xingye Lu, Zhenyang Meng, Shixian Wang, Shuai Cao, Qian Li, Tianchen Wang, Yi Xu, Mohsen Shakouri, Yecan Pi, Huan Pang
Abstract
Aqueous nickel-zinc batteries (NZBs) are well-suited for large-scale energy storage owing to their safety and low cost. Yet, their nickel-based cathodes encounter issues like particle fragmentation caused by lattice stress accumulation and irreversible phase changes during charge-discharge cycles. In this study, nickel-cobalt Prussian blue analog nanocages (NC-NiCo-PBA) with an octahedral cavity structure were successfully prepared using ammonia complex etching. Structural characterization revealed that the nanocage retained an intact PBA skeleton, with the specific surface area enhanced to 151.38 m 2 /g, which was a 5.2% increase over the original solid particles. The octahedral hollow cavity structure significantly reduces ion transfer distance and alleviates volume strain, thereby markedly improving electrochemical performance. This study provides a new approach for the structural design of PBA-based cathode materials and validates the critical role of hollow nanostructures in enhancing the energy storage performance of aqueous batteries.