LAUSR

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have been considered as prospective alternatives for lithium-ion batteries, which are able to serve as power sources for next-generation wearable and flexible devices, due to the merits of abundant zinc resources and high safety of aqueous electrolyte. However, the lack of suitable cathode materials with flexibility for ZIBs hinders their further application. Herein, a novel cathode material, i.e. the MnO 2 nanosheet-assembled hollow polyhedron anchored on carbon cloth (MnO 2 /CC), was prepared through a rapid hydrothermal method using ZIF-67 as self-sacrificing template. When tested in an aqueous Zn-ion battery, the MnO 2 /CC delivers a high reversible capacity of 263.9 mA h g -1 at 1.0 A g -1 after 300 cycles far exceeding those of the commercial MnO 2 electrode. More importantly, benefiting from the unique structural advantages, a flexible Zn-ion battery assembled based on the MnO 2 /CC displays a stable output voltage of 1.53 V, and a specific capacity of 91.7 mA h g -1 at 0.1 A g -1 after 30 cycles. It also successfully lights LED bulbs even under different bending angles, showing good flexibility. This research contributes to the development of MnO 2 -based cathode materials for high-performance and flexible ZIBs.