New York: Lithium-ion batteries, ubiquitous in devices ranging from cell phones to laptop computers and electric cars, may soon have a cheaper and sustainable alternative as researchers have shown that potassium can work with graphite in a potassium-ion battery.

While lithium is quite rare, found in only 0.0017 percent, by weight, of the Earth's crust, potassium, is 880 times more abundant in the Earth's crust than lithium, the researchers pointed out.