2D phosphorus carbide as promising anode materials for Na/K-ion batteries from first-principles study

First-principles calculations based on density functional theory were used to investigate the electrochemical performance of monolayer γ-PC for Na- and K-ion batteries. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the monolayer γ-PC have the thermal and dynamic stability. A substantial charge transfer from the Na/K atoms to the γ-PC sheet enhances the electrical conductivity of γ-PC. The results show that the adsorption energies of Na and K are 1.53 eV and 2.04 eV, respectively, which are much higher than Na/K bulk cohesive energy and sufficiently ensure stability and safety. Additionally, the low diffusion barriers on γ-PC monolayer are 0.034 eV for Na and 0.027 eV for K, indicating excellent rate performance. The γ-PC sheet has a high theoretical capacity for both Na (519.9 mAh/g) and K (326.6 mAh/g) ion batteries, which can satisfy the requirement of energy storage devices to anode materials. Our results strongly suggest that 2D γ-PC monolayer is an exceedingly promising anode material for both NIBs and KIBs with high adsorption energies, high capacity, and low diffusion barriers.