Cathode Dependence of Liquid-Alloy Na-K Anodes

Alkali ions can be plated dendrite-free into a liquid alkali-metal anode. Commercialized Na-S battery technology operates above 300 °C. A low-cost Na-K alloy is liquid at 25 °C from 9.2 to 58.2 wt% of sodium; sodium and/or potassium can be plated dendrite-free in the liquid range at room temperature. The co-existence of two alkali metals in an anode raises a question: whether the liquid Na-K alloy acts as a Na or a K anode. Here we show the alkali-metal that is stripped from the liquid Na-K anode is dependent on the preference of the cathode host. It acts as the anode of a sodium rechargeable cell if the cathode host structure selectively accepts only Na⁺ ions; as the anode of a potassium rechargeable cell if the cathode accepts K⁺ ions in preference to Na⁺ ions. This dual-anode behavior means the liquid Na-K alkali-alloy can be applied as a dendrite-free anode in Na-metal batteries as well as K-metal batteries.