High-performance rechargeable aqueous zinc-iodine batteries via a dual strategy of microporous carbon nanotubes for cathodic iodine immobilization and modified separator

Compared with lithium-ion battery, aqueous rechargeable zinc-iodine is of interest due to their high safety and low cost. Unfortunately, the host material's low conductivity, small specific surface area, shuttling effect, and high soluble iodine species (I2, I-, and I3-) are inhibiting its wide development. In this work, a dual strategy of fixing iodine active material with nanotubular microporous carbon (MCN) and modified cotton fiber separator (MCN@CF) is employed to solve the above-mentioned problem. The Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) assembled with an MCN/I2 cathode and MCN@CF separator show up to 162 mAh g-1 of reversible initial capacity with 85% capacity retention at 100 mA g-1 after 100 cycles. Moreover, besides featuring excellent long-term cyclability, MCN@CF battery delivers a Coulombic efficiency of 99% over 2000 cycles with a current density of 1 A g-1. This study would lead to opening of a new paradigm for the development of highly reversible aqueous rechargeable ZIBs.