"Free-from": transition metal-free and anode-free potassium batteries
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Energy storage plays a pivotal role in bring all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero by 2050. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that an additional 310 GW of grid-connected electricity storage would be needed to support electricity sector decarbonisation. Thus, battery technology is becoming a prominent slice of energy research portfolio in the UK. Li-ion battery (LIB) has certainly been a contender, as reflected by the enormous UKRI investments and research effort devoted to LIBs. However, the large share of LIB industry on the demand for Li and Co will result in supply risk in near future and expose the UK to external market and geopolitical forces; hence, the heavy focus on Li battery chemistry is not sustainable.
Sustainable decarbonisation calls for immediate investigation on adventurous battery technologies that will have large economic and environmental rewards. This project aims at high-risk research on developing an adventurous battery technology - transition metal-free and anode-free potassium batteries using sulphur-selenium chemistry. The proposed battery technology is environmentally friendly and cost-effective because (i) it does not contain any transition metals (such as Co and Ni) or expensive metals (such as Cu); it is based on abundant and cheap elements (K, Al, S and Se). It is also scientifically exciting and innovative because it is anode-free, which solves the fundamental limitation of huge metal excess in metal anode batteries and will deliver a step-change improvement in energy density. In addition, S-Se chemistry will provide high K inventory (further contributing to improving energy density) and power density. Furthermore, the proposed battery technology can be deployed in a manner compatible with the context of circular economy via (i) a low eco-impact of battery materials and the minimization of battery recycling procedure due to the absence of transition metals, (ii) reducing the risk of a high reactivity leading to exothermal oxidation due to the absence of an alkali metal anode, and (iii) lowering energy consumption to separate Al and Cu during battery recycling due to the absence of Al. Therefore, the outcome of this project will direct a promising avenue of sustainable decarbonisation via decentralised electricity generation by renewable
sources and scalable energy storage and deployment.
The activities included in the project are: (i) explore an anode-free configuration of battery cells; (ii) design surface modification of Al current collector to achieve stable electrochemical K stripping/plating; (iii) perform in-situ and ex-situ characterisations to best characterise, understand and explain the electrochemical process of storing K via S-Se cathode chemistry; (iv) design a "breathable" carbon host to engineer cathode architecture; (v) coordinate surface-modified Al current collector and architecturally engineered cathode to deliver a demonstrator cell; (vi) engage with the public and be an advocate for sustainable decarbonisation and adventurous energy solutions.
Sustainable decarbonisation calls for immediate investigation on adventurous battery technologies that will have large economic and environmental rewards. This project aims at high-risk research on developing an adventurous battery technology - transition metal-free and anode-free potassium batteries using sulphur-selenium chemistry. The proposed battery technology is environmentally friendly and cost-effective because (i) it does not contain any transition metals (such as Co and Ni) or expensive metals (such as Cu); it is based on abundant and cheap elements (K, Al, S and Se). It is also scientifically exciting and innovative because it is anode-free, which solves the fundamental limitation of huge metal excess in metal anode batteries and will deliver a step-change improvement in energy density. In addition, S-Se chemistry will provide high K inventory (further contributing to improving energy density) and power density. Furthermore, the proposed battery technology can be deployed in a manner compatible with the context of circular economy via (i) a low eco-impact of battery materials and the minimization of battery recycling procedure due to the absence of transition metals, (ii) reducing the risk of a high reactivity leading to exothermal oxidation due to the absence of an alkali metal anode, and (iii) lowering energy consumption to separate Al and Cu during battery recycling due to the absence of Al. Therefore, the outcome of this project will direct a promising avenue of sustainable decarbonisation via decentralised electricity generation by renewable
sources and scalable energy storage and deployment.
The activities included in the project are: (i) explore an anode-free configuration of battery cells; (ii) design surface modification of Al current collector to achieve stable electrochemical K stripping/plating; (iii) perform in-situ and ex-situ characterisations to best characterise, understand and explain the electrochemical process of storing K via S-Se cathode chemistry; (iv) design a "breathable" carbon host to engineer cathode architecture; (v) coordinate surface-modified Al current collector and architecturally engineered cathode to deliver a demonstrator cell; (vi) engage with the public and be an advocate for sustainable decarbonisation and adventurous energy solutions.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Yang Xu (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Hao J
(2025)
Platanus occidentalis L. fruit-derived carbon materials for electrochemical potassium storage
in Nanotechnology
He P
(2024)
Advancing the Manufacture of Metal Anodes for Metal Batteries.
in Accounts of materials research
Li G
(2023)
N, S co-doped porous graphene-like carbon synthesized by a facile coal tar pitch-blowing strategy for high-performance supercapacitors
in Chemical Physics Letters
Liu L
(2024)
Hard carbon derived from Physalis alkekengi L. husks as a stable anode for sodium-ion batteries
in Molecular Systems Design & Engineering
Nason C
(2024)
Pre-intercalation: A valuable approach for the improvement of post-lithium battery materials
in eScience
Nason CAF
(2023)
Layered Potassium Titanium Niobate/Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite as a Potassium-Ion Battery Anode.
in Nano-micro letters
Tinker H
(2023)
Exploring anodes for calcium-ion batteries
in Materials Advances
Tinker H
(2024)
Competition for Ion Intercalation in Prussian Blue Analogues as Cathode Materials for Calcium Ion Batteries
in Small Structures
Vijaya Kumar Saroja A
(2023)
Enabling intercalation-type TiNb 24 O 62 anode for sodium- and potassium-ion batteries via a synergetic strategy of oxygen vacancy and carbon incorporation
in SusMat
Vijaya Kumar Saroja A
(2024)
Improving the electrocatalysts for conversion-type anodes of alkali-ion batteries
in Chinese Journal of Structural Chemistry
| Title | Journal cover of Carbon Neutralization |
| Description | A beautiful image featuring a pheonix and a battery technology was selected as the front cover of the Wiley journal Carbon Neutralization. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | Increased the visibility of my research. Highlighted the importance of diversifying the reserach of emerging post-lithium energy storage technologies. |
| URL | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cnl2.88 |
| Title | Journal cover of Materials Advances |
| Description | A beautiful image featuring a dragon and battery technologies was selected as the front cover of the RSC journal Materials Advances. |
| Type Of Art | Artwork |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Impact | Increased the visibility of my research. Highlighted the importance of diversifying the reserach of emerging post-lithium energy storage technologies. |
| URL | https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/ma/d3ma90034g |
| Description | 1. A facile method to improve electrochemical K deposition: we found that using Au sputtering for <20s, the Au nanoparticles deposited on the surface of Cu current collector can significantly improve the stability of K stripping/plating, which results in a functional anode-free K metal battery. The idea of anode-free can largely reduce the weight of the cell and increase the energy density of the cell. Furthermore, we found the improvement caused by Au nanoparticles is dependent on the form of Au nanoparticles, which can be regulated by sputtering time. This is due to the balance between the Work of Adhesion of Au and Cu as well as the surface area of Au nanoparticles exposed to electrochemical K deposition. 2. A simple and innovative way to manufacture K anodes: we demonstrated that simply pressing K metals into a stainless steel mesh can improve electrochemical K deposition. This is because the integration of a stainless steel mesh into K metals can change the surface roughness/morphology and strain distribution of K, which in turn affects K plating/stripping. The idea has a level of generality and we proved that improvement can be achieved by using other metal meshes such as Ti. 3. We identified the negative effect of "orange peel" on the surface of K, which is caused by the widely used method to produce K discs - roll pressing - in K metal battery research and proposed a solution to mitigate such effect. We investigated the components and distribution of SEI on the surface of K and related them to the "orange peel" effect. 4. An effective synthesis to form graphene/S composites: we developped an effective ball-milling method to produce high-quality graphene/S composites with a high S content. The effectiveness is due to the use of an additive in the ball-milling process. The composites will be further investigated for the phase tranisiton of polysulfides in the context of K-S battery chemistry. 5. We discovered a charging protocol to realise a high degree of reversibility of S oxidation reaction and a high capacity (>800 mAh/g) of K-S cells in a high voltage window (>1.8 V), i.e., a largely incresed energy density of the cells compared to existing results in literature. Investigation of polysulfide intermediate phases and K-S reaction kinetics is underway. |
| Exploitation Route | The methods that we have been developping in terms of modifying Cu current collector, manufacturing K metal anodes, and forming graphene/S composites with a high S content are facile and straigtfoward. They do not require tedious and time consuming steps can be transferred to other batteries such as sodium metal batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries. |
| Sectors | Energy |
| Description | The research associated to the award being taught in my course |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Global Engagement Funds |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2024 |
| End | 07/2024 |
| Description | Collaborative review article |
| Organisation | University of Surrey |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This collaboration is regarding a review article that has been submitted to Advanced Materials and is under review at the moment. The review article is on the topic of zero weight loss metal batteries and particularly focuses on bridging the knowledge between experimental and computational understanding, which is unique compared to the existing review articles on the same topic. The contribution made from the UCL team was led by Dr Pan He who was the PDRA on the award. We summarised the research progress on metal anodes including Li, Na and K for the aims of achieveing stable metal electrodeposition and reducing the weight of metal used in metal batteries. We identified the knowledge gap from experimental results and relevant computational perspectives, the latter of which provided a guidance to our partner. We integrated key experimental and computational results in a coherent way that analysed the step-by-step process of metal electrodeposition. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Our partner team led by Prof. Qiong Cai at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering provided the summary of computational results of LI/Na/K metal anodes. |
| Impact | Article under review in Advanced Materials. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | Communicated about my research via social media |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | My research was introduced in a post published by the RSC on the Journal of Materials Chemistry (JMC) blog when I joined the advisory board of JMCA. (link: https://blogs.rsc.org/jm/2023/03/10/journal-of-materials-chemistry-a-and-materials-advances-welcome-dr-yang-xu-from-university-college-london-to-their-advisory-boards/) The post was also promoted on Twitter by the account of JMC (@JMaterChem). I am particularly excited about it because it greatly increases the visibility of my research. Due to this, I have been receiving many queries on joining my research group from candidates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://blogs.rsc.org/jm/2023/03/10/journal-of-materials-chemistry-a-and-materials-advances-welcome-... |
| Description | Organise an online webinar to promote potassium-based batteries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I organised an online seminar in collaboration with JPhys Energy (an IOP journal) in Aug. 2024 to promote the research on potassium-based batteries, by inviting three leading international researchers (China and US) in the field and audience from both academia and industry. The webinar reached 4000+ views on the online streaming. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |