Laser-induced pitch-derived carbon with highly conductive graphite domains for high-performance lithium/potassium storage

Highly conductive porous carbon materials are promising candidates for next-generation potassium- and lithium-ion storage. However, conventional templating approaches often impose an inherent trade-off between electrical conductivity and porous architecture, ultimately limiting capacity and rate performance. In this work, we propose a laser-induced pitch-derived carbon (LIPC) strategy that enables the in situ formation of localized graphitic domains within a three-dimensional porous carbon framework. This design ensures continuous electron transport pathways while preserving accessible ion diffusion channels. The optimized LIPC-8 delivers a high potassium-ion storage capacity of 370.7 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 and retains 90.8 % of its capacity after 1600 cycles at 1 A g −1 . As a lithium-ion battery anode, LIPC-8 maintains a reversible capacity of 801.7 mAh g −1 after 1000 cycles at 0.372 A g −1 . In situ Raman spectroscopy confirms a two-step “adsorption–intercalation” storage mechanism in LIPC-8. To further validate its practical applicability, a potassium-ion hybrid capacitor (PIHC) was assembled using LIPC-8 as the anode and commercial activated carbon as the cathode, achieving a maximum energy density of 125.5 Wh kg −1 at 205 W kg −1 and excellent cycling stability over 10,000 cycles.