The China University of Mining and Technology team has made important progress in carbon materials and energy storage applications

The "30·60" strategic goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is the key goal of high-quality development in China in the new era.
The design of advanced carbon materials and the development of new green energy storage systems are combined with the characteristics of our school to achieve the dual-carbon goal with high efficiency and efficiency.
reliable way
.
At present, the growing energy demand urgently requires the development of safe, cheap, and scalable high-performance battery technology
.
As an emerging energy storage system, potassium-ion batteries show great potential application prospects in the field of large-scale energy storage that does not require high volumetric energy density due to the advantages of abundant potassium resources and low redox potential
.
Carbon materials are considered to be the most potential anode materials for potassium ion batteries due to their stable physical and chemical properties, low cost, and strong designability
.
The development of high-performance carbon anode materials is the key to the development of high-energy-density potassium-ion batteries
.

Recently, young teachers Chen Yaxin and Ju Zhicheng of the School of Materials and Physics, China University of Mining and Technology have made important progress in the field of carbon materials and energy storage applications
.
Aiming at the problem that it is difficult to balance the electrochemical potassium storage capacity and stability of high-defect carbon anodes, an in-situ defect-selective modulation and conductive framework construction strategy is reported to improve the electrochemical potassium storage of defective carbon anodes through dual regulation of thermodynamics and kinetics comprehensive performance
.

Based on gas evolution and surface tension induction, this work achieves defect-selective modulation and graphite-like skeleton construction in situ, and obtains defect-rich carbon nanosheets with high carbon vacancy defect density and high intrinsic conductivity
.
The results show that carbon vacancies are proven to have higher potassium storage reversibility and faster ion/electron dynamics than heteroatom defects, and their surrounding π-conjugated structural shells are helpful for further construction of fast electron transfer channels
.
The dual design of defect modulation and conductive network construction is the key to promoting stable and fast electrochemical potassium storage of defect-rich carbon materials
.
The dual regulation of thermodynamics and kinetics is the key to improving the electrochemical potassium storage performance of carbon anodes
.
And compared with the kinetic process, the thermodynamic properties of the defect site and its surrounding environment have a greater impact on the reversibility and rate capability of electrochemical potassium storage
.
The related research provides enlightening insights and theoretical support for the basic research related to the design of carbon anode materials for potassium ion batteries, which is of great significance for the design and application of high-capacity, high-rate, and long-life electrochemical energy storage devices
.

The related results were published in Advanced Materials (IF=30.
85), the top international comprehensive academic journal, under the title of "Defect-Selectivity and 'Order in Disorder' Engineering in Carbon for Durable and Fast Potassium Storage", and were selected as Frontispiece
.
Professor Chen Yaxin from the School of Materials and Physics is the first author of the paper, Associate Professor Ju Zhicheng from the School of Materials and Physics and Professor Xiong Shenglin from Shandong University are the co-corresponding authors, and China University of Mining and Technology is the first unit
.