Dual Soft-Gel Electrodes Enabling Near-Practical and Deployable Aqueous Batteries.

Aqueous batteries offer strong potential for large-scale energy storage owing to their intrinsic safety and low cost, yet their development remains constrained by the fundamental limitations of solid- and liquid-state electrode architectures. Here, we report a dual soft-gel electrode aqueous battery enabled by a water competition effect between sulfate anions and water-soluble polymers. By confining redox-active 1,8-bis(2-(2-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-ethoxy)ethoxy)anthracene-9,10-dione and iodide within the anode and cathode soft-gel phases, respectively, together with an electronically conductive network, a dual-soft-gel electrode battery configuration is realized. This architecture delivers stable electrochemical operation while maintaining effective ionic and electronic transport. Importantly, the concept is further validated in a cylindrical cell with substantially increased electrode dimensions, which exhibits consistent cycling behavior, highlighting the potential of dual soft-gel electrodes as a deployable platform for practical aqueous batteries.