Enhancing aqueous battery energy storage through electrochemically-driven reconstruction of electrode materials utilizing metal-oxygen clusters

The electrochemical reconstruction of electrode materials is a common phenomenon that occurs during electrochemical reactions, but the evolution process of materials during reconstruction is still a field rarely explored since the intricate and diverse initial electrode structures render the reconstruction process exceptionally complex. In this work, Bi₆ polyhedral clusters are used as building units to alleviate the impact of initial structures, providing an opportunity to reveal the electrochemically-driven reconstruction. By fine-tuning the composition by doping metal atoms (Fe, Cu, Zn), the electrochemically-driven reconstruction of Bi₆ polyhedral clusters resulted in the Cu/Zn co-doped Bi₂O₃/FeOOH nanosized heterostructure with distinctive structural features including competitive growth of heterogeneous grains, micro-zone stress, and diverse functionalities of metal ions. As an anode material, its assembled aqueous batteries achieve a high-level equilibrium of energy and power density with 102.2 Wh kg⁻¹ at the power density of 27.2 kW kg⁻¹. This study paves the way for the spontaneous construction of novel electrode materials through electrochemical reconstruction, promising accelerated advancements in high-performance electrochemical energy storage devices.