Facile Synthesis of Potassium Decahydrido‐Monocarba‐closo‐Decaborate Imidazole Complex Electrolyte for All‐Solid‐State Potassium Metal Batteries.

Lu, Zhiwei; Qiu, Pengtao; Zhai, Hanyu; Zhang, Guo‐Guo; Chen, Xin‐Wei; Lu, Zhansheng; Wu, Yiying; Chen, Xuenian

All‐solid‐state potassium metal batteries have caught increasing interest owing to their abundance, cost‐effectiveness, and high energy/power density. However, their development is generally constrained by the lack of suitable solid‐state electrolytes. Herein, we report a new complex KCB9H10 ⋅ 2C3H4N2, synthesized by grinding and heating the mixture of potassium decahydrido‐monocarba‐closo‐decaborate (KCB9H10) and imidazole (C3H4N2) under mild conditions, to achieve the K‐ion superionic solid‐state electrolyte. The crystal structure was revealed as an orthorhombic lattice with the space group of Pna21 by FOX software. The diffusion properties for K in the crystal structure were calculated using the climbing image nudged elastic band (CI‐NEB) method. KCB9H10 ⋅ 2C3H4N2 exhibited a high ionic conductivity of 1.3×10−4 S cm−1 at 30 °C, four orders of magnitude higher than that of KCB9H10. This ionic conductivity is also the highest value of hydridoborate‐based K conductors reported. Moreover, KCB9H10 ⋅ 2C3H4N2 demonstrated a K transference number of 0.96, an electrochemical stability window of 1.2 to 3.2 V vs. K/K , and good stability against the K metal coated by a layer of potassium imidazolate (KIm). These great performances make KCB9H10 ⋅ 2C3H4N2 a promising K‐ion solid‐state electrolyte.

IONIC conductivity; METAL coating; POWER density; SPACE groups; CRYSTAL structure

Angewandte Chemie, 2024, Vol 136, Issue 51, p1

0044-8249

Academic Journal

10.1002/ange.202412401