Bacterial-Derived, Compressible, and Hierarchical Porous Carbon for High-Performance Potassium-Ion Batteries

Hierarchical-structured electrodes having merits of superior cycling stability and high rate performance are highly desired for next-generation energy storage. For the first time, we reported a compressible and hierarchical porous carbon nanofiber foam (CNFF) derived from a sustainable and abundant biomaterial resource, bacterial cellulose, for boosting the electrochemical performance of potassium-ion batteries. The CNFF free-standing electrode with a hierarchical porous three-dimensional structure demonstrated excellent rate performance and outstanding cyclic stability in the extended cycling test. Specifically, in the long-term cycling-stability test, the CNFF electrode maintained a stable capacity of 158 mA h g-1 after 2000 cycles at a high current density of 1000 mA g-1, which has an average capacity decay of 0.006% per cycle. After that, the CNFF electrode maintained a capacity of 141 mA h g-1 at a current density of 2000 mA g-1 for another 1500 cycles, and a capacity of 122 mA h g-1 at a current density of 5000 mA g-1 for an additional 1000 cycles. The mechanism for the outstanding performance is that the hierarchical porous and stable CNFF with high surface area and high electronic conductivity provides sufficient sites for potassium-ion storage. Furthermore, quantitative kinetics analysis has validated the capacitive- and diffusion-controlled charge-storage contributions in the carbon-foam electrode. This work will inspire the search for cost-effective and sustainable materials for potassium electrochemical energy storage.