A Novel Composite Cathode of Indanthrone/Graphene Oxide with an Expanded Ion Transport Channel for Aqueous Zinc‐Ion Batteries

Aqueous zinc‐ion batteries (AZIBs) have attracted extensive attention owing to their abundant raw material reserves and superior safety. Compared with traditional inorganic cathode materials, organic cathodes exhibit promising prospects for next‐generation batteries. Indanthrone (RD) consists of two imine‐bridged anthraquinone units. The numerous redox‐active sites within RD allow efficient coordination with Zn ²⁺ . To further improve the discharge performance of AZIBs, a novel RD/G composite cathode is fabricated via a hydrothermal method in this work, where RD is tightly coupled with graphene oxide (GO) possessing large interlayer spacing. In the RD/G composite, π–π stacking interactions between RD and GO construct a stable stacked architecture, accelerating electron transport and reinforcing structural integrity. Galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements reveal that the Zn|aqueous ZnSO ₄ |RD/G‐2 full cell delivers an initial discharge capacity of 83.5 mAh g ⁻¹ at 800 mA g ⁻¹ , and maintains a capacity of 83.7 mAh g ⁻¹ wth 80.4% capacity retention after 2500 cycles. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations verify that the incorporation of GO increases the number of active sites, enhances cathode conductivity, and strengthens Zn ²⁺ binding affinity, thus accelerating Zn ²⁺ storage kinetics. This work offers a viable strategy and new insight toward developing high‐performance aqueous zinc‐ion batteries.