Fast Rate and Long Life Potassium-Ion Based Dual-Ion Battery through 3D Porous Organic Negative Electrode

Potassium-based dual ion batteries (K-DIBs) with potassium cation (K+) intercalation graphitic anodes have been investigated for their potential in large-scale energy storage applications owing to their merits of low cost and environmental friendly. Nonetheless, graphite anodes are plagued by volume expansion from the large K+ ions and the co-intercalation of solvent molecules during the charging. Accordingly, organic materials stand out for the flexible adjustable structures and abundant active sites, which can accommodate cations by multiple functional groups without structural collapse. However, K-DIBs based on organic anodes have rarely been investigated. Herein, 3D porous dipotassium terephthalate nanosheets are synthesized via a freeze-dry method as the K-DIB anode, which can reversibly store K+ ions at a fast rate with a high specific capacity and robust stability due to the sufficient redox active sites and diffusion pathways of K+ ions in the 3D porous structure. Consequently, a novel K-DIB configuration combining this fast kinetics organic anode and environmental friendly expanded graphite (EG) cathode is constructed (pK2TP//EG), which exhibits a high specific capacity (68 mAh g(-1) at 2 C), good rate performance up to 20 C, and long cycling life with a capacity retention 100% after 2000 cycles, which is the best performance observed among reported K-DIBs.