Ultrastable Electrolytic Zn–I₂ Batteries Based on Nanocarbon Wrapped by Highly Efficient Single‐Atom Fe‐NC Iodine Catalysts

Abstract

Aqueous Zn-iodine (Zn-I₂) conversion batteries with iodine redox chemistry suffers the severe polyiodide shuttling and sluggish redox kinetics, which impede the battery lifespan and rate capability. Herein, an ultrastable Zn-I₂ battery is introduced based on single-atom Fe-N-C encapsulated high-surface-area carbon (HC@FeNC) as the core-shell cathode materials, which accelerate the I^-/I₃ ^-/I° conversion significantly. The robust chemical-physical interaction between polyiodides and Fe-N₄ sites tightly binds the polyiodide ions and suppresses the polyiodide shuttling, thereby significantly enhancing the coulombic efficiency. As a result, the core-shell HC@FeNC cathode endows the electrolytic Zn-I₂ battery with an excellent capacity, remarkable rate capability, and an ultralong lifespan over 60 000 cycles. More importantly, a practical 253 Wh kg^-1 pouch cell shows good capacity retention of 84% after 100 cycles, underscoring its considerable potential for commercial Zn-I₂ batteries.