High power rechargeable magnesium/iodine battery chemistry.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28071666.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms14083 and PMC identifier 5234091.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Rechargeable magnesium batteries have attracted considerable attention because of their potential high energy density and low cost. However, their development has been severely hindered because of the lack of appropriate cathode materials. Here we report a rechargeable magnesium/iodine battery, in which the soluble iodine reacts with Mg<sup>2+</sup> to form a soluble intermediate and then an insoluble final product magnesium iodide. The liquid-solid two-phase reaction pathway circumvents solid-state Mg<sup>2+</sup> diffusion and ensures a large interfacial reaction area, leading to fast reaction kinetics and high reaction reversibility. As a result, the rechargeable magnesium/iodine battery shows a better rate capability (180 mAh g<sup>-1</sup> at 0.5 C and 140 mAh g<sup>-1</sup> at 1 C) and a higher energy density (∼400 Wh kg<sup>-1</sup>) than all other reported rechargeable magnesium batteries using intercalation cathodes. This study demonstrates that the liquid-solid two-phase reaction mechanism is promising in addressing the kinetic limitation of rechargeable magnesium batteries.