A Successful Catalyst Design for Advanced Zinc-Iodine Batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have attracted extensive attention due to their high safety, abundant reserves, and environmental friendliness. Iodine with high abundance in seawater (55 μg L-1) is highly promising for fabricating zinc-iodine batteries due to its high theoretical capacity (211 mAh g-1) and appropriate redox potential (0.54V). However, the low electrical conductivity of iodine hinders the redox conversion for an efficient energy storage process with zinc. Additionally, the formed soluble polyiodides are prone to migrate to the Zn anode, leading to capacity degradation and Zn corrosion.