Rechargeable potassium batteries represent a promising alternative to lithium batteries, but potassium is highly reactive, and flammable electrolytes in potassium batteries pose fire hazards; a study reports a nonflammable ionic liquid electrolyte composed of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride/AlCl3/KCl/potassium bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide that could enable the development of safe and efficient potassium batteries, and the authors demonstrated that a 3.6 V potassium battery containing a potassium anode and Prussian blue/reduced graphene oxide cathode delivered high energy and power density, retained around 89% of its original capacity after 820 cycles with a coulombic efficiency of 99.9%, and could be used safely and stably at temperatures up to 60 °C.
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Article #20-12716: "A high-performance potassium metal battery using safe ionic liquid electrolyte," by Hao Sun, Peng Liang, et al.
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences