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A sustainable aqueous Zn-I2 battery

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Abstract

Rechargeable metal-iodine batteries are an emerging attractive electrochemical energy storage technology that combines metallic anodes with halogen cathodes. Such batteries using aqueous electrolytes represent a viable solution for the safety and cost issues associated with organic electrolytes. A hybrid-electrolyte battery architecture has been adopted in a lithium-iodine battery using a solid ceramic membrane that protects the metallic anode from contacting the aqueous electrolyte. Here we demonstrate an eco-friendly, low-cost zinc-iodine battery with an aqueous electrolyte, wherein active I2 is confined in a nanoporous carbon cloth substrate. The electrochemical reaction is confined in the nanopores as a single conversion reaction, thus avoiding the production of I3− intermediates. The cathode architecture fully utilizes the active I2, showing a capacity of 255 mAh·g−1 and low capacity cycling fading. The battery provides an energy density of ∼ 151 Wh·kg−1 and exhibits an ultrastable cycle life of more than 1,500 cycles.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21171128 and 21603162), Tianjin Sci. & Tech. Program (No. 17JCYBJC21500), and the Fundamental Research Funds of Tianjin University of Technology.

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Author notes

  1. Chong Bai and Fengshi Cai contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Chong Bai & Zhihao Yuan

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Key Lab for Photoelectric Materials & Devices, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Fengshi Cai, Lingchang Wang, Shengqi Guo, Xizheng Liu & Zhihao Yuan

Authors
  1. Chong Bai
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  2. Fengshi Cai
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  3. Lingchang Wang
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  4. Shengqi Guo
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  5. Xizheng Liu
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  6. Zhihao Yuan
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Correspondence to Xizheng Liu or Zhihao Yuan.

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Bai, C., Cai, F., Wang, L. et al. A sustainable aqueous Zn-I2 battery. Nano Res. 11, 3548–3554 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1920-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1920-9

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