• • AVO cathodes exhibit Zn2+ diffusion coefficients up to 10-8–10-10 cm2 s-1, surpassing conventional vanadium oxides by at least one order of magnitude, which directly enables high-rate capability (>5 A g-1) and reduces polarization losses in practical cells.
• • Defect engineering (e.g., oxygen vacancies) increases electronic conductivity by 2–3 orders of magnitude, from ~10-5 to ~10-2 S cm-1, addressing the intrinsic insulating nature of pristine AVOs and improving active material utilization at high mass loadings.
• • Interlayer spacing modulation via pre-intercalated cations (e.g., Na+, K+) or structural water expands the interlayer distance from ~10.5 Å to >12 Å, lowering the Zn2+ migration barrier by ~0.2–0.3 eV and enhancing rate performance by 40–60% at 10 A g-1.
• • Composite construction with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) or polyaniline (PANI) suppresses vanadium dissolution by 70–80% (from ~5 mg L-1 to <1 mg L-1 after 100 cycles), extending cycling stability to >5,000 cycles with 85% capacity retention, a critical threshold for grid-scale deployment.