Quinone polymers with the advantages of structure tunability

large capacity and good electrochemical reversibility are considered as highly promising cathode materials for high-energy aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). However

their Zn2+ storage performance is limited by low electronic conductivity and slow ion diffusion.In this study

we synthesized a novel multiwalled carbon nanotube@sulfur heterocyclic quinone polymer (MWCNT@SHQP) inorganic-organic nanocomposite material via an in-situ interfacial polymerization method. This approach utilized tetrachloroperoxyquinone and sodium sulfide as low-cost polymer precursors with MWCNT as conductive support. The π-π stacking interaction between the SHQP and MWCNT facilitated the polymer growth around the MWCNTs during the polymerization process

ensuring the formation of a core-sheath nanostructure. This unique nanostructure of MWCNT@SHQPs improves the electronic conductivity of the SHQP polymer

increases the availability of active carbonyl (C[FY=

1]O) groups for charge storage

promotes Zn2+ diffusion

mitigates volume fluctuations

and inhibits the dissolution of SHQP polymer during cycling. The MWCNT@SHQP cathode exhibits high discharge capacity (185 mAh/g at 100 mA/g)

excellent rate capability (100.3 mAh/g at 5 A/g)

and long cycling stability (88.7% capacity retention after 2 000 cycles at 1.5 A/g).The study indicates that designing multi-walled carbon nanotube@benzoquinone polymer composite cathode materials (MWCNT@polymer) is an effective approach to enhance the charge storage performance of benzoquinone polymer zinc-ion batteries.