Aqueous Mg-ion
batteries (MIBs) are safe, non-toxic and low-cost. Magnesium has a high theoretical specific
capacity with its ion radius close to that of lithium. Therefore, aqueous
magnesium ion batteries have great research advantages in green energy. To
acquire the best electrode materials for aqueous magnesium ion batteries, it is
necessary for the structural design in material. Fe
2O
3 is
an anode material commonly used in Li-ion battery. However, the nano-cube Fe
2O
3 combined with graphene hydrogels (GH) can be successfully prepared and employed
as an anode, which is seldom researched in the aqueous batteries system. The Fe
2O
3/GH
is used as anode in
the dual MgSO
4 + FeSO
4 aqueous electrolyte, avoiding the irreversible deintercalation of magnesium
ions. In addition, the Fe element in anode material can form the Fe
3+/Fe
2+ and Fe
2+/Fe
3+ redox pairs in
the MgSO
4 +
FeSO
4 electrolyte. Thus, the reversible insertion/(de)insertion of
magnesium and iron ions into/from the host anode material can be simultaneously
achieved. After the initial charge, the anodic structure is changed to be more
stable, avoiding the formation of MgO. The Fe
2O
3/GH
demonstrates high rate properties and reversible capacities of 198, 151, 121,
80, 75 and 27 mAh g
−1 at 50, 100, 200, 300, 500 and 1000 mA g
−1 correspondingly.