Amine-Wetting-Enabled Dendrite-Free Potassium Metal Anode

Considered as an imperative alternative to the commercial LiFePO4 battery, the potassium metal battery possesses great potential in grid-scale energy storage systems due to the low cost, low standard redox potential, and high abundance of potassium. The potassium dendrite growth, large volume change, and unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the potassium metal anode have, however, hindered its applications. Although conductive scaffolds coupling with potassium metal have been widely proposed to address the above issues, it remains challenging to fabricate a uniform composite with uncompromised capacity. Herein, we propose a facile and efficient strategy to construct dendrite-free and practical carbon-based potassium composite anodes via amine functionalization of the carbon scaffolds that enables fast molten potassium infusion within several seconds. On the basis of experiments and theoretical calculations, we show that highly potassiophilic amine groups immediately transform carbon scaffolds from nonwetting to wetting to postassium. Our carboncloth-based potassium composite anode (K@CC) can accommodate volume fluctuation, provide abundant nucleation sites, and lower the local current density, achieving nondendritic morphology with a stable SEI. The fabricated K0.7Mn0.7Ni0.3O2 vertical bar K@ CC full cell displays excellent rate capability and an ultralong lifespan over 8000 cycles (68.5% retention) at a high current of 1 A g(-1).

Automated summary

Potassium metal batteries are considered as a promising alternative to commercial LiFePO4 batteries for grid-scale energy storage systems. However, the growth of dendrites, large volume change, and unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the potassium metal anode have been major obstacles for their widespread applications. In this study, a facile and efficient strategy was proposed to construct dendrite-free and practical carbon-based potassium composite anodes via amine functionalization of the carbon scaffolds. The resulting potassium composite anode demonstrated excellent rate capability and long-term cycling stability.