posted on 2021-10-21, 08:32authored byYuanji Wu, Jiefeng Zheng, Yong Tong, Xi Liu, Yingjuan Sun, Li Niu, Hongyan Li
Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) have
attracted widespread attention
in recent years due to their potential advantages such as low cost
and high energy density. However, the large radius of K+ and the low potassium storage capacity of some electrode materials
limit their development. Antimony (Sb)-based materials are considered
to be promising anode materials for PIBs in view of their high K storage
capacity and low potassiation potential. Nonetheless, the huge volume
variation caused by potassiation/depotassiation often leads to their
failure. Previous works have proved that carbon coating and nanostructure
design are important means to alleviate the volume effect. Herein,
the carbon-coating technology and nanostructure design were combined
to prepare a Sb-based nanomaterial with Sb/Sb2S3 hybrid nanorod fragments confined in a carbon hollow tube (Sb/Sb2S3@CHT). Such a nanostructure is beneficial to
alleviate the volume change of the Sb/Sb2S3 hybrids
while facilitating the kinetics of the electrochemical reaction. As
a consequence, the Sb/Sb2S3@CHT anode electrode
exhibits high rate performance and outstanding cycle stability characterized
by retaining a high specific capacity of 400.9 mA h g–1 after cycling for 200 cycles at 200 mA g–1.