Ultrahigh “Relative Energy Density” and Mass Loading of Carbon Cloth Anodes for K-Ion Batteries

Mass loading and potential plateau are the two most important issues of potassium(K)-ion batteries(KIBs),but they have long been ignored in previous studies.Herein,we report a simple and scalable method to fabricate acidized carbon clothes(A-CC)as high mass loading(13.1 mg cm−2)anode for KIBs,which achieved a reversible areal-specific capacity of 1.81 mAh cm−2 at 0.2 mA cm−2.Besides,we have proposed the concept of“relative energy density”to reasonably evaluate the electrochemical performance of the anode.According to our calculation method,the A-CC electrode exhibited an ultrahigh relative energy density of 46 Wh m−2 in the initial charge process and remained at 40 Wh m−2 after 50 cycles.Furthermore,we performed the operando Raman spectroscopy(ORS)to investigate the K-ion storage mechanism.We believe that our work might provide a new guideline for the evaluation of anode performance,thereby,opening an avenue for the development of commercial anode.