Jianbiao Wang, Deviprasath Chinnadurai, and Zhi Wei Seh. 2025. An Advanced Host Material for Aqueous Zinc–iodine Batteries.
Chem & Bio Engineering Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/cbe.5c00099
Abstract:
Aqueous zinc–iodine batteries (AZIBs) have attracted intensive research interest owing to their outstanding safety, high theoretical capacity, and cost-effectiveness, positioning them as highly promising candidates for large-scale energy storage applications. (1) Further development and practical commercialization of AZIBs remain critically constrained by several intrinsic challenges, including the low electronic conductivity of iodine (I2) and the shuttle effect of polyiodide intermediates (I3– and I5–). (2−4) Collectively, these issues lead to rapid capacity decay, poor rate performance, and severe self-discharge in AZIBs. (5,6) To mitigate these limitations, a variety of transition metal–based host materials─ranging from single-atom catalysts to transition metal phosphides─have been investigated, demonstrating notable improvements in electrochemical performance. (7,8) However, most transition metal–based host materials are intrinsically crystalline, offering a limited number of active sites for polyiodides, which constrains their adsorption capacity and catalytic efficiency. In parallel, carbon-based hosts have been explored to enhance the conductivity of iodine cathodes and improve polyiodide adsorption. Yet, owing to their weak interactions with polar iodine species, carbon hosts primarily rely on physical adsorption, which proves insufficient to effectively suppress the shuttle effect. (9) Consequently, designing host materials that simultaneously provide strong polyiodide binding and high catalytic activity remains a significant challenge.
License type:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Funding Info:
There was no specific funding for the research done