Rational Design of Multinary Metal Chalcogenide Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 Nanocrystals for Efficient Potassium Storage

Abstract

AbstractMultinary metal chalcogenides hold considerable promise for high‐energy potassium storage due to their numerous redox reactions. However, challenges arise from issues such as volume expansion and sluggish kinetics. Here, a design featuring a layered ternary Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 anchored on graphene layers as a composite anode, where Bi atoms act as a lattice softening agent on Sb, is presented. Benefiting from the lattice arrangement in Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 and structure, Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3/graphene exhibits a mitigated expansion of 28% during the potassiation/depotassiation process and demonstrates facile K+ ion transfer kinetics, enabling long‐term durability of 500 cycles at various high rates. Operando synchrotron diffraction patterns and spectroscopies including in situ Raman, ex situ adsorption, and X‐ray photoelectron reveal multiple conversion and alloying/dealloying reactions for potassium storage at the atomic level. In addition, both theoretical calculations and electrochemical examinations elucidate the K+ migration pathways and indicate a reduction in energy barriers within Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3/graphene, thereby suggesting enhanced diffusion kinetics for K+. These findings provide insight in the design of durable high‐energy multinary tellurides for potassium storage.