Potassium‐Rich Iron Hexacyanoferrate/Carbon Cloth Electrode for Flexible and Wearable Potassium‐Ion Batteries

Abstract

The fast development of flexible and wearable electronics increases the demand for flexible secondary batteries, and the emerging high‐performance K‐ion batteries (KIBs) have shown immense promise for the flexible electronics due to the abundant and cost‐effective potassium resources. However, the implementation of flexible cathodes for KIBs is hampered by the critical issues of low capacity, rapid capacity decay with cycles, and limited initial Coulombic efficiency. To address these pressing issues, a freestanding K‐rich iron hexacyanoferrate/carbon cloth (KFeHCF/CC) electrode is designed and fabricated by cathodic deposition. This innovative binder‐free and self‐supporting KFeHCF/CC electrode not only provides continuous conductive channels for electrons, but also accelerates the diffusion of potassium ions through the active electrode–electrolyte interface. Moreover, the nanosized potassium iron hexacyanoferrate particles limit particle fracture and pulverization to preserve the structure and stability during cycling. As a result, the K‐rich KFeHCF/CC electrode shows a reversible discharging capacity of 110.1 mAh g−1 at 50 mA g−1 after 100 cycles in conjunction with capacity retention of 92.3% after 1000 cycles at 500 mA g−1. To demonstrate the commercial feasibility, a flexible tubular KIB is assembled with the K‐rich KFeHCF/CC electrode, and excellent flexibility, capacity, and stability are observed.

A synergistic pinning effect in a layer-structured oxide cathode for enhancing stability towards potassium-ion batteries

“…1–4 Presently, they are in urgent need of cathode materials which can offer high specific capacity and long-term cycling stability to support large-scale applications. 5–7 Potential cathode categories, such as transition metal oxides, 8,9 polyanionic materials, 10–12 Prussian blue analogs, 13,14 and organic compounds, 15–17 have been extensively investigated. 3,6,18,19 Layered transition metal oxides (K x TMO 2 , TM = transition metal) stand out owing to their unique intercalation mechanism, high theoretical capacity and flexible elemental composition advantages.…”