Supramolecularly Engineered Flexible Zinc‐Iodine Batteries for Wearable Electronics

Flexible aqueous zinc-iodine batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as promising candidates for the power source in wearable electronics, owing to their intrinsic safety and cost-effectiveness. However, electrochemical and mechanical interface instability between zinc anodes and electrolytes under deformation prevent the reliable performance of AZIBs in practical applications. Here, we present a synergistic supramolecular interactions engineering strategy utilizing hydrogen bonding, ion-dipole, and coordination interactions to enhance interfacial stability by creating a polyacrylamide-trehalose- dimethylglycine (PATT) hydrogel electrolyte with strengthened interfacial adhesion, reduced water activity, and facilitated ion transport. With PATT, Zn||ZnI<sub>2</sub> cell delivers an areal capacity of 4.2 mAh cm<sup>-</sup> <sup>2</sup> with 85.2% retention after 6000 h, while multilayer pouch cell maintains 1.2 Ah with 92.3% retention over 175 cycles. Excellent mechanical resilience and electrochemical stability of Zn||ZnI<sub>2</sub> cells are further observed under successive loading cycles of bending and stretching. The strain-sensing capability of PATT hydrogel is also investigated, thereby enabling the energy supply and hand motion capture with monolithic material. A smart glove for virtual reality interaction is demonstrated to highlight the potential of PATT hydrogel in achieving mechanical-robust wearable electronics.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Materials
Published
2026-01-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202521374
Primary Topic
Advanced battery technologies research
Type
article
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article

Supramolecularly Engineered Flexible Zinc‐Iodine Batteries for Wearable Electronics

Bo Zhao, Siqi Chen, Rong Zeng, Yang Xiao et al.
Advanced Materials
Advanced battery technologies research
article

Supramolecularly Engineered Flexible Zinc‐Iodine Batteries for Wearable Electronics

Bo Zhao, Siqi Chen, Rong Zeng, Yang Xiao, Wei Sun, Taiqi Hu, Taisong Pan, Yuan Lin, Xiao Huang, Jiaqi Wang
article en

Abstract

Flexible aqueous zinc-iodine batteries (AZIBs) have emerged as promising candidates for the power source in wearable electronics, owing to their intrinsic safety and cost-effectiveness. However, electrochemical and mechanical interface instability between zinc anodes and electrolytes under deformation prevent the reliable performance of AZIBs in practical applications. Here, we present a synergistic supramolecular interactions engineering strategy utilizing hydrogen bonding, ion-dipole, and coordination interactions to enhance interfacial stability by creating a polyacrylamide-trehalose- dimethylglycine (PATT) hydrogel electrolyte with strengthened interfacial adhesion, reduced water activity, and facilitated ion transport. With PATT, Zn||ZnI<sub>2</sub> cell delivers an areal capacity of 4.2 mAh cm<sup>-</sup> <sup>2</sup> with 85.2% retention after 6000 h, while multilayer pouch cell maintains 1.2 Ah with 92.3% retention over 175 cycles. Excellent mechanical resilience and electrochemical stability of Zn||ZnI<sub>2</sub> cells are further observed under successive loading cycles of bending and stretching. The strain-sensing capability of PATT hydrogel is also investigated, thereby enabling the energy supply and hand motion capture with monolithic material. A smart glove for virtual reality interaction is demonstrated to highlight the potential of PATT hydrogel in achieving mechanical-robust wearable electronics.

Advanced MaterialsVol. 38(14)
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (CN)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 72%
Advanced battery technologies research
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