Etching Engineering for Constructing Carbon Cloth with Cobalt Synergistic Active Sites as a Multifunctional Host for Zinc–Iodine Batteries

Yifan Zhu; Hongyu Zhu; Junqiang Wei; Qin Hao; Qian Li; Hua Tan; Caixia Xu

doi:10.1007/s12209-026-00499-9

Transactions of Tianjin University ›› :1 -12. DOI: 10.1007/s12209-026-00499-9

Research Article

research-article

Etching Engineering for Constructing Carbon Cloth with Cobalt Synergistic Active Sites as a Multifunctional Host for Zinc–Iodine Batteries

Yifan Zhu ¹
, Hongyu Zhu ¹
, Junqiang Wei ¹
, Qin Hao ¹
, Qian Li ¹^,^a
, Hua Tan ¹^,^b
, Caixia Xu ¹^,²^,^c

Author information +

¹Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (iAIR), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Jinan, 250022, Jinan, China

²College of Food Engineering, Qingdao Institute of Technology, 266300, Qingdao, China

Corresponding author:

^a chm_liqian@ujn.edu.cn

^b ifc_tanh@ujn.edu.cn

^c chm_xucx@ujn.edu.cn

Yifan Zhu

Yifan Zhu obtained his M.S. degree from Shandong Agricultural University in 2023. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Professor Caixia Xu’s group at the Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (IAIR), University of Jinan. His research interests focus on developing electrocatalysts for CO₂ reduction reaction and advanced aqueous zinc ion batteries.

Hongyu Zhu

Hongyu Zhu obtained her bachelor’s degree in University of Jinan in 2022. At present, she studies as a master student in Prof. Caixia Xu’s group in Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (IAIR), University of Jinan. His research focuses on the design and synthesis of cathode materials for high-performance zinc-iodine batteries.

Junqiang Wei

Junqiang Wei received his Bachelor degree (2018) and Master degree (2021), and he is currently pursuing a PhD. His research interests mainly focus on the preparation of nanomaterials for lithium batteries and the direct regeneration of materials from spent lithium batteries.

Qin Hao

Qin Hao received her doctor’s degree in School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University in 2012, with Prof. Yitai Qian. At present, she works at School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in University of Jinan. She mainly engages in the preparation of nanomaterials and improving their electrochemical properties for lithium-ion batteries and other secondary batteries.

Qian Li

Qian Li received her doctor’s degree from School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, in 2010. At present, she works at School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in University of Jinan. Her current research focuses on the design and preparation of hybrid nanomaterials as electrode materials for supercapacitors, solid-state batteries, electrochemical sensing, and water splitting.

Hua Tan

Hua Tan received her PhD from the State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials at Shandong University, under the supervision of Professor Hong Liu. In September 2019, she joined Professor Hongjin Fan’s research group at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, as a postdoctoral researcher. Currently, she works at School of Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (iAIR) in University of Jinan. Her research focuses on the structural design and regulation of advanced micro-nanomaterials and their applications in aqueous energy storage batteries, aqueous catalytic batteries, and related fields.

Caixia Xu

Caixia Xu received her bachelor’s degree in School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qufu Normal University, in 2003 and her doctor’s degree in School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, in 2009, with Prof. Yi Ding. At present, she works at School of Institute for Advanced Interdisciplinary Research (iAIR) in University of Jinan. She is mainly engaged in the fields of the preparation of nanomaterials and investigating their catalytic and electrocatalytic activities toward some small molecules with the aim to develop useful advanced materials to be applied in fuel-cell related technology, electrochemical sensing, and heterogeneous industrial catalysis.

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Abstract

Aqueous zinc–iodine batteries (AZIBs) have attracted considerable attention as a promising energy storage technology due to their high safety, low cost, and high theoretical capacity. However, the practical application of AZIBs is hindered by the slow iodine redox kinetics and the severe polyiodide shuttle effect. This work presents a novel trace cobalt-doped carbon cloth-based iodine host cathode (Co–CC/I₂) fabricated by a straightforward impregnation–annealing–acid-corrosion process. This strategy eliminates the generation of unstable cobalt nanoparticles and incorporates cobalt atoms into the carbon matrix, ensuring the retention of abundant pore channels along with the creation of numerous active catalytic sites. The Co–CC/I₂ cathode integrates the advantages of trap−adsorption−catalysis, effectively suppresses the polyiodides shuttle effect, as well as promotes the reversible conversion of iodine species (I⁻/I⁰) to improve the electrochemical performance. The Co–CC/I₂ cathode exhibits an outstanding rate capability (223.6 and 131.3 mAh/g at 0.5 and 8 A/g, respectively), coupled with a low self-discharge rate over 120 h and a high capacity retention of 94.7% after 2400 cycles at 1 A/g. This study offers an effective technique for developing multifunctional iodine host matrices with high adsorption and catalytic activities.

Keywords

Zinc–iodine batteries / Shuttle effect / Iodine redox kinetics / Cobalt nanoparticles

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Yifan Zhu, Hongyu Zhu, Junqiang Wei, Qin Hao, Qian Li, Hua Tan, Caixia Xu. Etching Engineering for Constructing Carbon Cloth with Cobalt Synergistic Active Sites as a Multifunctional Host for Zinc–Iodine Batteries. Transactions of Tianjin University 1-12 DOI:10.1007/s12209-026-00499-9

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