SAXS unveils porous anodes for potassium-ion batteries: dynamic evolution of pore structures in Fe@Fe₂O₃/PCNFs...

The porous structure of composite nanofibers plays a key role in improving their electrochemical performance. However, the dynamic evolution of pore structures and their action during ion intercalation/extraction processes for negative electrodes are not clear. Herein, porous carbon composite nanofibers (Fe@Fe₂O₃/PCNFs) were prepared as negative electrode materials for potassium-ion batteries. Electrochemical test findings revealed that the composites had good electrochemical characteristics, and the porous structure endowed composite electrodes with pseudo-capacitive behaviors. After 1500 discharge/charge cycles at a current density of 1000 mA g^-1, the specific capacity of the potassium-ion batteries was 144.8 mAh g^-1. We innovatively used synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique to systematically investigate the kinetic process of potassium formation in composites and showed that the kinetic process of potassium reaction in composites can be divided into four stages, and the pores with smaller average diameter distribution are more sensitive to changes in the reaction process. This work paves a new way to study the deposition kinetics of potassium in porous materials, which facilitates the design of porous structures and realizes the development of alkali metal ion-anode materials with high energies.