Hard-Soft Composite Carbon as a Long-Cycling and High-Rate Anode for Potassium-Ion Batteries

There exist tremendous needs for sustainable storage solutions for intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind energy. Thus, systems based on Earth-abundant elements deserve much attention. Potassium-ion batteries represent a promising candidate because of the abundance of potassium resources. As for the choices of anodes, graphite exhibits encouraging potassium-ion storage properties; however, it suffers limited rate capability and poor cycling stability. Here, nongraphitic carbons as K-ion anodes with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as the binder are systematically investigated. Compared to hard carbon and soft carbon, a hard-soft composite carbon with 20 wt% soft carbon distributed in the matrix phase of hard carbon microspheres exhibits highly amenable performance: high capacity, high rate capability, and very stable long-term cycling. In contrast, pure hard carbon suffers limited rate capability, while the capacity of pure soft carbon fades more rapidly.