Differential bonding behaviors of sodium/potassium-ion storage in sawdust waste carbon derivatives

Abstract

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are the most promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, and thus have drawn intensive research attention. Porous carbon materials from different precursors have been widely used as anode materials owing to their compatible storage effectiveness of both larger radii sodium and potassium ions. However, the differential bonding behaviors of Na and K ions with porous carbon-based anode are the significant one worth investigating, which could provide a clean picture of alkali ions storage mechanism. Therefore, in this work, we prepare a porous carbon network derived from sawdust (SDC) wastes, to further analyze the differences on sodium and potassium ions storage behaviors in terms of bond-forming process. It is found that, as-prepared SDC anodes could deliver stable sodium and potassium storage capacities, however, there are notable distinctions in terms of electrochemical behaviors and diffusion processes. By virtue of ex-situ XRD and Raman spectroscopy, the phase transition reaction of potassium ions could be well-observed, and the results shows that the multiple intercalated compounds was formed in SDC network during ions insertion, further resulting in slower diffusion kinetics and larger resistance compared to non-bonded process of sodium ions storage. This study provides more insights into the differences between sodium and potassium ions storage, as well as the energy storage mechanism of porous carbon as anodes for secondary batteries.