Researchers have built a more efficient, more reliable potassium-oxygen battery, a step toward a potential solution for energy storage on the nation's power grid and longer-lasting batteries in cell phones and laptops.
In particular, the rechargeable potassium oxygen (K-O2) battery has been recognized as a promising energy storage technology because of its low overpotential and high round-trip efficiency based on the single-electron redox chemistry of potassium superoxide.
The role of oxygen has traditionally been assumed to be simply that of a spectator. But scientists have recently realized that oxygen can actively contribute to the battery's storage capacity.
Are potassium-based rechargeable batteries a solution to a global Li depletion crisis?
Online ahead of print. To mitigate a global crisis of Li depletion, potassium-based rechargeable batteries have received significant attention because of their low cost and high specific energy density.