A Novel Calcium-Ion Battery Based on Dual-Carbon Configuration with High Working Voltage and Long Cycling Life

Abstract

Rechargeable batteries based on multivalent cations (e.g., Mg2+ and Al3+) have attracted increased interest in recent years because of the merits of natural abundance, low cost, good chemical safety, and larger capacity. Among these batteries, the Ca-ion battery (CIB) shows attractive priority because Ca2+ has the closest reduction potential (−2.87 V vs standard hydrogen electrode (SHE)), to that of Li (−3.04 V vs SHE), enabling a wide voltage window for the full battery. However, most Ca-ion batteries have low working voltage (below 2 V), as well as poor cycling stability (less than 50 cycles). Here, a high-performance Ca-ion full battery with a novel dual-carbon configuration design with low-cost and environmentally friendly mesocarbon microbeads and expanded graphite as the anode and cathode, respectively, is reported. This Ca-ion-based dual-carbon battery (Ca-DCB) can work successfully in conventional carbonate electrolyte dissolving Ca(PF6)2, with a reversible discharge capacity of 66 mAh g−1 at a current rate of 2 C and a high working voltage of 4.6 V. Moreover, the Ca-DCB exhibits good cycling stability with a discharge capacity of 62 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles with a high capacity retention of 94%, which is the best performance of the reported CIBs, suggesting it is a promising candidate for next-generation energy storage devices.