Issue 35, 2024

Initiating a composite membrane with a localized high iodine concentration layer based on adduct chemistry to enable highly reversible zinc–iodine flow batteries

Abstract

The issue of polyiodide crossover at an iodine cathode significantly diminishes the efficiency and practicality of aqueous zinc–iodine flow batteries (ZIFBs). To address this challenge, we have introduced a localized high iodine concentration (LHIC) coating layer onto a porous polyolefin membrane, which featured strong chemical adsorption by exploiting adduct chemistry between the iodine species and a series of low-cost oxides, e.g., MgO, CeO2, ZrO2, TiO2, and Al2O3. Leveraging the LHIC based on the potent iodine adsorption capability, the as-fabricated MgO-LHIC composite membrane effectively mitigates iodine crossover via Donnan repulsion and concentration gradient effects. At a high volumetric capacity of 17.8 Ah L−1, ZIFBs utilizing a MgO–LHIC composite membrane exhibited improved coulombic efficiency (CE) and energy efficiency (EE) of 96.3% and 68.6%, respectively, along with long-term cycling stability of 170 cycles. These results significantly outperform those of ZIFBs based on a blank polyolefin membrane (78.2%/61.9% after 60 cycles) and the widely used commercial Nafion N117 (67.8%/53.0% after 23 cycles). Even under high-temperature conditions (60 °C), the LHIC-based battery still demonstrates superior CE/EE of 95.1%/67.5% compared to those of the blank polyolefin membrane (CE/EE: 61.1%/46.8%). Our pioneering research showcases enormous prospects for developing high-efficiency and low-cost composite membranes based on adduct chemistry for large-scale energy storage applications.

Graphical abstract: Initiating a composite membrane with a localized high iodine concentration layer based on adduct chemistry to enable highly reversible zinc–iodine flow batteries

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Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
25 Jun 2024
Accepted
05 Aug 2024
First published
06 Aug 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 14195-14201

Initiating a composite membrane with a localized high iodine concentration layer based on adduct chemistry to enable highly reversible zinc–iodine flow batteries

Y. Hu, T. Hu, Y. Zhang, H. Huang, Y. Pei, Y. Yang, Y. Wu, H. Hu, G. Liang and H. Cheng, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 14195 DOI: 10.1039/D4SC04206A

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