Langmuir–Blodgett Film Formed by Amphiphilic Molecules for Facile and Rapid Construction of Zinc–Iodine Cell
Leiqian Zhang, Jiale Ge, Tianlu Wang, Hele Guo, Suli Chen, Yue‐E Miao, Elke Debroye, Guanjie He, Ivan P. Parkin, Johan Hofkens, Feili Lai, Tianxi Liu
Abstract
Zinc–iodine batteries (ZIBs) are promising candidates for ecofriendly, safe, and low-cost energy storage systems, but polyiodide shuttling and the complex cathode fabrication procedures have severely hindered their broader commercial usage. Herein, a protocol is developed using phospholipid-like oleylamine molecules for scalable production of Langmuir–Blodgett films, which allows the facile preparation of ZIB cathodes in less than 1 min. The resulting inhomogeneous cathode allows for the continuous conversion of iodine. Moreover, the amine group of the oleylamine molecule at the cathode is capable of producing [OA*I + ]I 3 – charge-transfer complexes with iodine, which facilitates the rapid migration of iodine and results in a highly reversible iodine conversion process. Consequently, the as-prepared ZIBs can deliver over 2000 cycles at 0.5 mA cm –2 with a capacity retention of 75.3%. This work presents a novel, straightforward, and efficient method for the rapid construction of ZIBs.