Recently, Prof. Que Lanfang from the College of Materials Science and Engineering of Huaqiao University (HQU) and her team have made significant strides in developing batteries that operate at low temperatures. Their research paper titled “Potassium-Based Dual-Ion Batteries Operating at −60^oC Enabled By Co-Intercalation Anode Chemistry” was published in Advanced Materials, one of the world’s leading journals in materials science.

To further its previous research in low-temperature electrolyte (published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202213416), Prof. Que Lanfang’s research team constructed potassium-based dual-ion batteries (K-DIBs) based on the polytriphenylamine (PTPAn) cathode with anion storage chemistry and the hydrogen titanate (HTO) anode with K⁺/solvent co-intercalation mechanism. Both the PTPAn cathode and the HTO anode do not undergo the desolvation process, which can effectively accelerate the interfacial kinetics at subzero. As revealed by theoretical calculations and experimental analysis, the strong K⁺/solvent binding energy in the dilute electrolyte, the charge shielding effect of the crystal water, and the uniform SEI layer with high content of the flexible organic species synergically promote HTO to undergo K⁺/solvent co-intercalation behavior. The special co-intercalation mechanism and anion storage chemistry enable HTO||PTPAn K-DIBs with superior rate performance and cycle durability, maintaining a capacity retention of 94.1% after 6000 cycles at −40^oC and 91% after 1000 cycles at −60^oC. These results provide a step forward for achieving high-performance energy storage devices at low temperatures.

The paper was published with HQU as the first affiliation and Prof. Que Lanfang the first author. Co-authors include Prof. Wu Jihuai, Prof. Lan Zhang, and Prof. Xie Yiming from HQU College of Materials Science and Engineering. The corresponding authors include Associate Prof. Yu Fuda from HQU College of Materials Science, Prof. Wang Zhenbo from Shenzhen University and Harbin Institute of Technology, Dr. Meng Jiashen from Wuhan University of Technology, and Prof. Zhang Xingcai from Harvard University. The research was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation Projects (52372191) and Huaqiao University Scientific Research Fund (20221XD027, 20221XD045).

Link to paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202307592

(Editor: Wei Linying)