# Switchable nucleophile-electrophile chemistry enables functional four-electron Li-I 2 batteries

Source: [nature.com](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-79413-9) · 2026-11-11 · Life
Page: https://themorning.science/story/switchable-nucleophile-electrophile-chemistry-enables-functional-four-electron-l-4a907b7cda5e9c34
Kind: research · Impact: medium

## In brief

- Researchers report a polarity-switchable phthalimide that promotes I⁻/I⁰/I⁺ redox through tunable Lewis interactions.
- The work demonstrates a four-electron Li-I2 battery, versus the conventional iodine conversion pathway.
- The paper was published online in Nature Communications on 11 November 2026.

## Why it matters

Iodine multi-electron conversion is central to high-performance Li-I2 batteries, so a route that uses more electrons per iodine atom bears directly on how such batteries could be designed.

## Timeline

- 2026-11-11: Paper published online in Nature Communications (doi:10.1038/s41467-026-79413-9)

## Coverage

- [Switchable nucleophile-electrophile chemistry enables functional four-electron Li-I 2 batteries](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-79413-9) — nature.com, 2026-11-11

Tags: lithium-iodine batteries, redox chemistry, energy storage, iodine chemistry, lithium batteries

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science