Persistent and reversible solid iodine electrodeposition in nanoporous carbons

Christian Prehal*, Harald Matthias Fitzek, Gerald Kothleitner, Volker Presser, Bernhard Gollas, Stefan Freunberger*, Qamar Abbas*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Aqueous iodine based electrochemical energy storage is considered a potential candidate to improve sustainability and performance of current battery and supercapacitor technology. It harnesses the redox activity of iodide, iodine, and polyiodide species in the confined geometry of nanoporous carbon electrodes. However, current descriptions of the electrochemical reaction mechanism to interconvert these species are elusive. Here we show that electrochemical oxidation of iodide in nanoporous carbons forms persistent solid iodine deposits. Confinement slows down dissolution into triiodide and pentaiodide, responsible for otherwise significant self-discharge via shuttling. The main tools for these insights are in situ Raman spectroscopy and in situ small and wide-angle X-ray scattering (in situ SAXS/WAXS). In situ Raman confirms the reversible formation of triiodide and pentaiodide. In situ SAXS/WAXS indicates remarkable amounts of solid iodine deposited in the carbon nanopores. Combined with stochastic modeling, in situ SAXS allows quantifying the solid iodine volume fraction and visualizing the iodine structure on 3D lattice models at the sub-nanometer scale. Based on the derived mechanism, we demonstrate strategies for improved iodine pore filling capacity and prevention of self-discharge, applicable to hybrid supercapacitors and batteries.
Original languageEnglish
Article number4838
Number of pages10
JournalNature Communications
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2020

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)
  • Chemistry(all)
  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)

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