Recently, FNU Prof. Chen Yuming’s team reported that contact curved interfaces (CCIs) significantly enhance the electronic density of states around the Fermi level of carbonaceous materials, and that the high-electronic-state active sites of CCIs facilitate the potassium-ion adsorption and subsequently benefit potassium storage and rate capability using the first principles calculations. The research results, titled “Engineering contact curved interface with high-electronic-state active sites for high-performance potassium-ion batteries,” were published in PNAS, an international scholarly journal. FNU is the first affiliation of the paper, with Li Xuan, a doctoral student, Wang Yaxin, a master student, and Fellow Wu Junxiong, as the co-first authors, FNU Professors Chen Yuming and Li Xiaoyan and Professor Wang Guoxiu of University of Technology Sydney as the co-corresponding authors, and Professor Chen Qinghua and Lecturer Chen Xiaochuan as participants. The work was supported by the Youth Project of National Major Talents Plan, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Fuzhou-Xiamen-Quanzhou Collaborative Innovation Platform, Industry-University-Research Joint Innovation Project of Fujian Province, High-level Talent Fund Project of Fujian Normal University, and so on.
It is learned that potassium-ion batteries (PIBs), as emerging secondary alkali metal-ion batteries, have attracted wide interest due to the abundant potassium resources. Developing new high-capacity carbonaceous materials is key to the application of PIBs. Currently, designing new nanostructure is a major way to boost the potassium storage of carbonaceous materials. However, whether and how CCIs of carbonaceous materials affect the electronic structure and the potassium storage remains largely unexplored. The study helps deeply understand the changes in CCI-induced electronic structure and the storage of alkali metal-ions, and also provides a perspective on developing new energy storage materials.
Paper link: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2307477120
(Translated by Wang Ye/ Reviewed by Xie Xiujuan)