There is a breakthrough in the research and development of potassium-ion batteries in Japan

There is a breakthrough in the research and development of potassium-ion batteries in Japan, and the newly developed battery charging speed is 10 times
faster.
The researchers successfully achieved multiple charge and discharge
without degrading performance using graphite electrodes.
Not only has the charging speed been improved, but it can also cope with high-intensity current and output more power, which can be applied to electric sports cars
with high requirements for instantaneous acceleration.

Professor Komaba et al.
used graphite as the negative electrode of the battery and conducted more than 100 charge-discharge tests to confirm that the performance of the battery did not deteriorate
.
With a battery capacity of 244 mAh per gram, the researchers have been successful
in experiments such as using resin to reinforce graphite and improve the purity of potassium ion electrolytes.
Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which only use copper electrodes, graphite electrodes fixed on aluminum films are used in the experiment, which is conducive to reducing costs
.
In addition, when potassium ions are used, the voltage can drop to -0.
09 volts, while the voltage of conventional batteries such as lithium-ion cannot be reduced to negative values
.
Until now, there is only one way to increase the battery capacity: increasing the
positive voltage.
Potassium-ion batteries are expected to make the overall voltage exceed that of lithium-ion batteries
by reducing the negative electrode voltage.

Potassium, lithium and sodium are all alkaline metal elements
.
Compared with lithium, potassium ions move more actively in the electrolyte, which is more suitable for charging in a short time and releasing a large amount of current at one time, and output high power
.
At present, electric vehicles have the problem of excessive charging time, and if they can be charged in a short time, it will improve the convenience of electric vehicles
.
In addition, potassium-ion batteries are constructed in the same way as lithium-ion batteries and can be produced
on the same production line.
It is reported that the dissolution temperature of potassium-ion batteries is 64 degrees Celsius, and the risk of fire is lower
than that of lithium-ion batteries.

Since potassium has a larger atomic number than lithium and sodium, potassium-ion batteries are heavier
when used to make batteries of the same capacity.
And the volume of ions becomes larger, resulting in a very limited amount of materials available for the cathode, which has become one of
the problems unique to potassium-ion batteries.

Globally, cathodes
with sufficient performance have not yet been developed.
For the realization of potassium-ion batteries, only the negative electrode is not enough, and the research and development of the positive electrode is also indispensable
.
In this regard, Professor Komaba said that the research and development of cathodes is constantly progressing, and it is expected that potassium-ion batteries
will be successfully developed next year.