Deciphering the potassium storage phase conversion mechanism of phosphorus by combined solid-state NMR spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations

Phosphorus is the potential anode material for emerging potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) owing to the highest specific capacity and relatively low operation plateau. However, the reversible delivered capacities of phosphorus-based anodes, in reality, are far from the theoretical capacity corresponding to the formation of K3P alloy. And, their underlying potassium storage mechanisms remain poorly understood. To address this issue, for the first time, we perform high-resolution solid-state 31P NMR combined with XRD measurements, and density functional theory calculations to yield a systemic quantitative understanding of (de)potassiation reaction mechanism of phosphorus anode. We explicitly reveal a previously unknown asymmetrical nanocrystalline-to-amorphous transition process via rP ↔ (K3P11, K3P7, beta-K4P6) ↔ (alpha-K4P6) ↔ (K1−xP, KP, K4−xP3, K1+xP) ↔ (amorphous K4P3, amorphous K3P) that are proceed along with the electrochemical potassiation/depotassiation processes. Additionally, the corresponding K-P alloys intermediates, such as the amorphous phases of K4P3, K3P, and the nonstoichiometric phases of “K1−xP”, “K1+xP”, “K4−xP3” are experimentally detected, which indicating various complicated K-P alloy species are coexisted and evolved with the sluggish electrochemical reaction kinetics, resulting in lower capacity of phosphorus-based anodes. Our findings offer some insights into the specific multi-phase evolution mechanism of alloying anodes that may be generally involved in conversion-type electrode materials for PIBs.