Heteroatom doped graphitic carbon nanotubes as freestanding anodes for advanced potassium-ion batteries

Owing to its higher earth element reserve and similar chemical properties to lithium, potassium ion batteries (PIBs) have been regarded as a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries. And considering the relatively larger ionic radius of potassium, available electrode materials need to be equipped with enough space for volume expansion during charge-discharge cycles, thus graphitic carbon nanomaterials with adjustable layer spacing gradually come into researcher's version. Here with copper nanowires serving as growth template and organic polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) providing carbon source, freestanding and ultra-light graphitic carbon nanotube (GCNT) aerogels were simply assembled and annealed, which were directly used as anodes of PIBs. Annealing parameters (temperature and atmosphere) were adapted to regulate the lattice order and interlayer spacing of GCNTs, and N, O heteroatoms derived from PVP were directly doped into the carbon lattice during thermal annealing, to optimize and enhance the cycle capacity and rate performance of GCNT anodes. The electrochemical potassium storage mechanism of GCNTs was also quantitatively analyzed. Most of the potassium ions are reversibly stored by squeezing into and escaping from the carbon lattice, and simultaneously oxygen-containing functional groups with different chemical states also offer active redox sites and dedicate partial capacity. Therefore, our assembled GCNTs with large lumen are expected to sandwich-like load with active substances efficiently, further constructing next-generation PIBs with excellent performance.