Applications of defect engineering in λ-MnO
2-
T cathode is investigated in aqueous Zn battery. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests are conducted to understand the effect of O
d on electrochemical behavior. As shown in
Fig. 2a, CV curves show that all the λ-MnO
2-
T electrodes possess two pairs of cathodic/anodic peaks, suggesting that the concentration of oxygen defect has almost no influence on their electrochemical reaction mechanism. However, the extremely higher redox current response of λ-MnO
2-24 electrode than that of the other two electrodes demonstrate the critical role of O
d concentration on the electrochemical activity. This phenomenon is corroborated by galvanostatic charge/discharge (GCD) measurements as well (
Figs. 2b and
c). The λ-MnO
2-24 electrode presents longer discharge plateau, smaller polarization potential (103 and 278 mV) and higher discharge capacity (285 mAh/g) than those of λ-MnO
2-12 (117 and 291 mV, 241 mAh/g) and λ-MnO
2-36 (115 and 310 mV, 167 mAh/g), revealing enhanced reaction activity and increased active sites. The bond strength of Mn-O bonds would be enhanced after O
d introduction, nonetheless, it would lead to structural collapse and affect thermodynamic stability beyond the upper limit of the content. Definitely surely, the cycling stability of λ-MnO
2-
T electrodes is closely related to O
d contents. As illustrated in
Figs. 2d and
e and Fig. S4 (Supporting information), the discharge capacities of λ-MnO
2-
T (
T = 12, 24 and 36) are 250.2, 317.4 and 184.5 mAh/g at 100 mA/g after 50 cycles, 89.6, 146.1 and 47.3 mAh/g at 500 mA/g after 500 cycles, 64.4, 154.1 and 36.8 mAh/g at 1000 mA/g after 1900 cycles. Cycling performance further proves λ-MnO
2-24 electrode performs the highest capacity retention, which is consistent with CV and GCD results. A comprehensive performance comparison of different cathodes in aqueous Zn batteries is summarized in Table S1 (Supporting information), which verifies the advance of λ-MnO
2-24 electrode. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is further carried out to elucidate the electronic conductivity property of λ-MnO
2-T. The Nyquist plots are shown in Fig. S5 (Supporting information), which presents that both the equivalent series resistance and the charge-transfer resistance of λ-MnO
2-24 (2.88 Ω, 322.2 Ω) are lower than those of λ-MnO
2-12 (3.38 Ω, 1757 Ω) and λ-MnO
2-36 (4.78 Ω, 844 Ω), verifying the moderate O
d concentration and proper structure of λ-MnO
2-24 may contribute to fast electron transfer kinetic.