Production of eco-friendly cathode materials from cellulose skeleton induced manganese dioxide to produce zinc ion battery: Physicochemical, morphological, and electrochemical study

Energy security is a universal issue since modern civilization cannot be imagined for a single moment without energy. Though lean fossil fuels are fighting against the current energy demand principally, these are linked to adverse environmental effects. Various energy storage technologies can resolve this issue in a sustainable ecofriendly manner. Rechargeable Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) are emerging as potential candidates to meet the growing commercial demand with several advantages. As a part of this, the cellulose skeleton-induced manganese dioxide-based electroactive cathode materials have been prepared by an innovative route and characterized using UV-vis-NIR, FTIR, FESEM, EDS, and XRD analysis. Results suggested that the newly produced eco-friendly cathode materials have possessed outstanding physicochemical, morphological, and structural properties. While the finished product namely the coin cell of ZIBs has shown a good CV profile along with minimal charge transfer resistance in PEIS. Noteworthy that the newly prepared cathode materials have also been shown a significant capacity of 29 mAhg-1 at a 5 mA constant current charge-discharge rate. Thus, the method could be beneficially used in energy storage devices for its eco-friendly nature though some drawbacks have been noticed. The cyclic stabilities were somewhat low which can be increased in further studies.