Manganese Hexacyanomanganate as a Positive Electrode for Nonaqueous Li-, Na-, and K-Ion Batteries

K 2 Mn[Mn(CN) 6 ] is synthesized, characterized, and evaluated as possible positive electrode material in nonaqueous Li-, Na-, and K-ion batteries. This compound belongs to the rich and versatile family of hexacyanometallates displaying distinctive structural properties, which makes it interesting for ion insertion purposes. It can be viewed as a perovskite-like compound in which CN-bridged Mn(CN) 6 octahedra form an open framework structure with sufficiently large diffusion channels able to accommodate a variety of insertion cations. By means of galvanostatic cycling and cyclic voltammetry tests in nonaqueous alkali metal half-cells, it is demonstrated that this material is able to reversibly host Li +, Na +, and K + ions via electrochemical insertion/deinsertion within a wide voltage range. The general electrochemical features are similar for all of these three ion insertion chemistries. An in operando X-ray diffraction investigation indicates that the original monoclinic structure is transformed into a cubic one during charging (i.e., removal of cations from the host framework) and that such a process is reversible upon subsequent cell discharge and cation reuptake.