Highly Stable Potassium-Ion Battery Enabled by Nanoengineering of an Sb Anode

We present the nanoengineering of Sb particles assisted by a conductive and stress-relieving network of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), in the proper design of anode materials with high specific capacity and excellent stability for potassium-ion batteries (KIBs). The nanosized Sb particles are prepared by the CQDs as functional tuners in the morphology and surface, which tune the size to nanolevel and provide fast ionic channels and a soft matrix to relieve the volume changes. As the additional conductive and stress-relieving network layer, PEDOT:PSS offers enhanced electron/ion pathways and maintains the integrity of the Sb@CQD composite electrode. In the KIB, the prepared Sb anode exhibits battery performance with a high specific capacity of 480 mA h g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1) and a high-capacity retention of 95.4% over 350 cycles.

Automated summary

In this study, we present the nanoengineering of anode materials for potassium-ion batteries (KIBs) by using a conductive and stress-relieving network of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The Sb particles with nanolevel size and fast ionic channels are prepared with the assistance of CQDs, while PEDOT:PSS offers enhanced electron/ion pathways and maintains the integrity of the composite electrode. The prepared Sb anode exhibits high specific capacity and excellent stability in KIB.