Abstract
Potassium-ion
batteries have been envisioned to herald the age of low-cost and
high-performance energy storage systems. However, the sparsity of viable
components has dampened the progress of these energy devices. Thus, herein, we
report coronene (not to be confused with ‘corona’), a high-voltage cathode
material that manifests a high-voltage of 4.1 V enkindled by anion
(de)insertion. This work not only illuminates the broad class of polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons as prospective cathode materials but also sets a new
benchmark for the performance of future organic cathode materials. It would be
remiss not to mention that the timing of this submission is not related to the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and any similarities noted herein are coincidental. On
the other hand, as a
silver lining, this work epitomises a beacon of hope in these despairing times.