Reversible calcium alloying enables a practical room-temperature rechargeable calcium-ion battery with a high discharge voltage

Abstract

Calcium-ion batteries (CIBs) are attractive candidates for energy storage because Ca²⁺ has low polarization and a reduction potential (-2.87 V versus standard hydrogen electrode, SHE) close to that of Li⁺ (-3.04 V versus SHE), promising a wide voltage window for a full battery. However, their development is limited by difficulties such as the lack of proper cathode/anode materials for reversible Ca²⁺ intercalation/de-intercalation, low working voltages (<2 V), low cycling stability, and especially poor room-temperature performance. Here, we report a CIB that can work stably at room temperature in a new cell configuration using graphite as the cathode and tin foils as the anode as well as the current collector. This CIB operates on a highly reversible electrochemical reaction that combines hexafluorophosphate intercalation/de-intercalation at the cathode and a Ca-involved alloying/de-alloying reaction at the anode. An optimized CIB exhibits a working voltage of up to 4.45 V with capacity retention of 95% after 350 cycles.