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UrFU Scientists Develop New Electrode Material for Potassium Batteries

Ural Federal University — UrFU, a member of the Nedra Consortium — scientists say batteries based on organic materials store more energy.

Octahydroxytetraazapentacenedione (OHTAPQ) is a new electrode material for the anode of potassium batteries with a high specific charge capacity. It will help create potassium batteries of high capacity and power and could become an environmentally friendly and cheap alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

"When developing organic materials for batteries, we have two goals. The first one is to create an efficient battery that stores a lot of energy and is lightweight. The battery will last longer with the same number of charge-discharge cycles but with more energy. The second is to achieve stability in terms of the number of charge-discharge cycles during which it will remain functional. The OHTAPQ-based electrode has demonstrated a high specific capacity and stable performance over 1200 charge-discharge cycles. This will allow using the material in ultra-fast batteries for any device," says Ivan Zhidkov, Associate Professor at the Ural Federal University's Department of Electrophysics.

Scientists from the Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics of Russian Academy of Sciences (Chernogolovka), the Ural Federal University and the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ekaterinburg), the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Moscow), and the Silesian University of Technology (Gliwice, Poland) worked on the research.

Let us recall that SPbU researchers have developed a technology for preventing lithium-ion batteries from fire. Their solution relies on a protective layer from conductive polymers. When triggered, it disconnects the electric circuit.