Synthesis of highly oriented stacked tile-like carbon sheet for potassium storage

[Display omitted] •Stacked tile-like carbon sheets (STCSs) was synthesized from the mesophase pitch.•The carbon clusters of STCSs is highly oriented.•Highly oriented carbon clusters facilitate the electron transfer and ion diffusion.•STCSs anode presents a high rate performance and superior cycling ability. Stacked tile-like carbon sheets (STCSs) with highly orientated carbon clusters was synthesized through a novel capillary force-induced nano-rubbing method. Compared to conventional carbon nanosheets with disordered carbon clusters, STCSs exhibits high reversible capacity (314 mAh g−1 at 0.05 A g−1), excellent retention (73.2% in 1000th cycle) and high rate capacity (145 mAh g−1 at 5.0 A g−1). The superior electrochemical performance of STCSs could be ascribed to the high orientation of carbon clusters, which facilitates the diffusion of K+ and transportation of electron.