Highly disordered hard carbon derived from skimmed cotton as a high-performance anode material for potassium-ion batteries

• Published in: Journal of power sources 2018-08, Vol.396, p.533-541
• Main Authors: He, Xiaodong, Liao, Jiaying, Tang, Zhongfeng, Xiao, Lina, Ding, Xiang, Hu, Qiao, Wen, Zhaoyin, Chen, Chunhua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anode; Cotton; Full cell; Potassium storage; Rate performance
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.06.073

Potassium-ion batteries attract tremendous attention for large scale application due to the abundance of K resources. Herein, a highly disordered hard carbon derived from a skimmed cotton is investigated for this purpose. The study shows that a simple soaking treatment in hydrochloric acid for the skimmed cotton before its high-temperature carbonization can critically impact the structure and the electrochemical properties of the obtained hard carbon significantly. This hard carbon exhibits a high initial coulombic efficiency (73%) and superior cycling stability and rate capability (253 mAh g−1 and 165 mAh g−1 at 40 mA g−1 and 4000 mA g−1, respectively) due to its unique porous architecture and large surface area. The full cell by coupling the hard carbon with a cathode material, i.e. potassium-rich iron hexacyanoferrate shows an outstanding electrochemical performance. These promising properties highlight the potentials of such a hard carbon in practical applications. •Acid soaking on skimmed cotton is utilized to achieve disordered porous structure.•The disordered porous structure is favorable for the high rate potassium storage.•Various techniques are adopted to elucidate the electrochemical storage mechanism.