Transformation of Rusty Stainless‐Steel Meshes into Stable, Low‐Cost, and Binder‐Free Cathodes for High‐Performance Potassium‐Ion Batteries

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 56; no. 27; pp. 7881 - 7885
• Main Authors: Zhu, Yun‐hai, Yin, Yan‐bin, Yang, Xu, Sun, Tao, Wang, Sai, Jiang, Yin‐shan, Yan, Jun‐min, Zhang, Xin‐bo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 26.06.2017
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Batteries; binder-free electrodes; Cathodes; Corrosion; Electric discharges; Electrical resistivity; Electrochemistry; graphene oxide; Graphite; Potassium; potassium-ion batteries; Retention; rusty stainless steel meshes; Structural stability; graphene oxide; rusty stainless steel meshes; potassium-ion batteries; binder-free electrodes
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.201702711

To recycle rusty stainless‐steel meshes (RSSM) and meet the urgent requirement of developing high‐performance cathodes for potassium‐ion batteries (KIB), we demonstrate a new strategy to fabricate flexible binder‐free KIB electrodes via transformation of the corrosion layer of RSSM into compact stack‐layers of Prussian blue (PB) nanocubes (PB@SSM). When further coated with reduced graphite oxide (RGO) to enhance electric conductivity and structural stability, the low‐cost, stable, and binder‐free RGO@PB@SSM cathode exhibits excellent electrochemical performances for KIB, including high capacity (96.8 mAh g−1), high discharge voltage (3.3 V), high rate capability (1000 mA g−1; 42 % capacity retention), and outstanding cycle stability (305 cycles; 75.1 % capacity retention). Turning waste into treasure: Rusty stainless steel meshes were utilized as solid‐state iron sources with excellent conductivity properties in order to fabricate stable, low‐cost, and flexible binder‐free potassium‐ion battery electrodes. When combined with unique structural design, the reduced graphite oxide‐coated electrodes exhibited high capacities, superior rate capabilities, and excellent cycle performance.