Compared with conventional ZICs merely using metal Zn as the anode, current ZICs are broadly defined as the hybrid system consisting of a capacitor-type electrode and a battery-type electrode in a zinc-based electrolyte solution [
9,
13]. Beyond metal Zn, other battery-type electrode materials used in zinc-ion batteries are expected to proceed Zn
2+ insertion/extraction in ZICs, such as Mn/V-based oxides, Prussian blue analogues (PBA), redox-active organic compounds [
13,
59,
75-
80]. Upon discharging, Zn
2+ electrolyte-ions are inserted into the crystal structure of the battery-type electrode, while Zn
2+ extraction occurs with subsequent diffusion to the electrolyte in the charge process [
13,
75]. Such broadly-defined ZICs can readily operate at higher voltages of 2 V for greater energy density than conventional ZICs, and the Zn(-dendrite)-free electrodes offer a high degree of freedom in material discovery and performance improvement. Mn/V-based oxides are the most commonly-used cathode materials in zinc-ion batteries due to various crystal structures and multivalent phases [
6,
16,
81]. As the pioneer of the broadly-defined ZICs, Kang's group assembled the novel
γ-MnO
2 nanorods//2 mol/L ZnSO
4//AC ZIC operated under 0-2 V, and the upgraded ZIC in the Mn
2+-containing ZnSO
4 electrolyte delivered the increased energy density from 34.8 Wh/kg to 83.8 Wh/kg [
13]. Also, the SO
42– replacement with CF
3SO
3– in the electrolyte relieved side reactions including continuous Mn
2+ dissolution and Zn
4(OH)
6SO
4·
nH
2O byproduct formation on the MnO
2 electrode. So far, inferior electrical conductivity and structure/phase evolution are the main challenge for emerging battery-type materials in current ZICs to influence the Zn
2+/electron diffusion rate upon electrochemical turns [
75,
82]. Consequently, some regulation strategies have been developed, including fabricating stable crystal structures, and compositing with conductive materials (
e.g., CNTs, graphene, MXene) [
59,
63,
75,
83]. Recently, a Zn
2+ pre-intercalation strategy was proposed to improve the tunnel structure stability of the battery-type MnO
2-based electrode for a high-performance ZIC with a remarkable battery-level energy density of 969.9 µWh/cm
2 and a power density up to 20.1 mW/cm
2 [
75]. In this Zn
xMnO
2 nanowires//AC ZIC, Zn
2+ insertion/extraction within Zn
xMnO
2 nanowire cathode (Zn
xMnO
2 – 2e
– ↔ Zn
yMnO
2 + Zn
2+) worked with ion sorption on the AC anode to jointly achieve the excellent electrochemical performances (
Fig. 4b). Ma's group reported a novel aqueous ZIC based on MXene anode and MnO
2@CNTs cathode, in which the energy and power densities reached 98.6 Wh/kg (77.5 W/kg) and 2480.6 W/kg (29.7 Wh/kg) [
59]. Meanwhile, fabricating the MnO
2-based composite cathode with conductive CNTs could alleviate conductivity weaknesses and improve the framework strength for better cycle stability and Coulombic efficiency over 93.3% during 15000 cycles. Moreover, inspired by zinc-ion batteries, more innovative and comprehensive investigations into battery-type electrodes for ZICs are needed to diversify active electrode materials and energy storage mechanisms. For example, the intercalation-type PBA electrodes like CoFe(CN)
6 addressed the low-capacity drawback of PBA-based zinc-ion batteries by multiple high-voltage redox-active centers for improved energy output [
77]. The coordination-type redox-active organic compound electrodes (carbonyl/imine compounds, nitronyl nitroxides, triphenylamine derivatives, organosulfur/conductive polymers,
etc.) could be equipped with plentiful coordination centers throughout the hierarchical configuration for Zn
2+ interaction [
79,
84-
89].