By virtue of low cost, eco-friendliness, competitive gravimetric energy density, and intrinsic safety, more and more attention has increasingly focused on aqueous zinc ion batteries (AZIBs) as a promising alternative for scalable energy storage. However, plagued by a complex interfacial process, sluggish dynamics, lability of electrodes and electrolytes, insufficient energy density, and poor cycle life heavily restrict practical applications of AZIBs, indicating that profound understandings on cathode storage chemistry are necessarily needed. Hence, this paper comprehensively summarizes recent advance in cathodes with critical insight on the energy storage mechanism. Furthermore, the issues and challenges for high-performance cathodes are meticulously explored, presenting inspiring structural engineering and modification strategies. Finally, rational evaluations on representative cathodes are rendered, suggesting the potential development direction of AZIBs.

中文翻译：

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深入了解水系锌离子电池的阴极化学：从反应机理、结构工程和改性策略

凭借低成本、环保、具有竞争力的重量能量密度和本质安全性，越来越多的注意力集中在水系锌离子电池（AZIBs）作为可扩展储能的有前途的替代品。然而，受复杂界面过程的困扰，动力学缓慢、电极和电解质的不稳定、能量密度不足和循环寿命差等严重限制了AZIBs的实际应用，这表明需要对正极存储化学有深入的了解。因此，本文全面总结了正极的最新进展，并对储能机制提出了批判性见解。此外，对高性能正极的问题和挑战进行了细致探索，提出了鼓舞人心的结构工程和修改策略。最后，