journal article·2026-02-13Open access

Single-Atom Catalysis with Anion-Enriched Environments for Enhanced Stability of Zn–I 2 Batteries

Qianyi Ma, Yihan Xie, Jing Wei, Jingxuan Ren, Ziran Ye, Jie Zhang, Shibin Li, Xintao Long, Qingying Li, Dan Luo, Lichao Tan, Xin Wang, Zhongwei Chen

ACS Energy Letters· Volume 11· Issue 2

Abstract

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Aqueous zinc–iodine batteries (AZIBs) are promising next-generation energy storage systems owing to their low-cost, high-energy density, and fast redox kinetics. However, their performance remains limited by sluggish iodine conversion, severe I 2 dissolution, and Zn corrosion. Here, zinc single atoms anchored on nitrogen-doped carbon (Zn-NC) serve as a signal atom catalyst to construct an anion-rich surface microenvironment, which lowers the energy barrier for I 2 redox and accelerates reaction kinetics. Meanwhile, Zn-NC enhances electrochemical activity, effectively adsorbs polyiodides, and suppresses the shuttle effect, collectively improving the rate performance and cycling stability. Electrochemical analyses reveal higher capacitive contributions, reduced polarization, and uniform Zn deposition. Consequently, Zn|I 2 cells deliver over 16000 cycles at 10 C, and pouch cells maintain >300 cycles with >8 mAh cm –2 areal capacity at 54.7% Zn utilization.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced battery technologies research · Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion · Advanced Battery Technologies Research

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Power Battery and Systems Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Department of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology

University of Waterloo

South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics and International Academy of Optoelectronics at Zhaoqing

South China Normal University

Institute of Carbon Neutrality

Zhejiang Wanli University

Funding

Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics · Department of Science and Technology of Liaoning Province · Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Chinese Academy of Sciences · Ningbo Yongjiang Talent Programme · Yulin Innovation Institute of Clean Energy · Entrepreneurial and Innovative Team Project of Ningbo Yinzhou District

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