Facile fabrication of fibrous phosphorus as anode material for lithium-ion batteries with long cycle life and high rate performance

Abstract

A facile dual-temperature zone heating strategy has been developed to fabricate fibrous phosphorus (FP) through bottom-up growth with the aid of the Sn24P19.3I8 catalyst. The resultant FP exhibits a high purity of over 99 % and a unique long-term ordering lamellar structure. The as-prepared FP is further mixed with graphite (G) to construct a FP-G composite anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Compared to conventional crystalline red phosphorus, the developed FP shows higher conductance, smaller lateral dimensions, shorter Li+ transport distance, and faster ion diffusion. This ensures that the FP-G anode gains high rate performance and long cycle life for LIBs. The FP-G anode not only exhibits a high specific capacity of 1533.2 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 but also presents a high retention capacity of 1048.4 mA h g−1 at a high current density of 4.0 A g−1 after 1300 charge/discharge cycles, indicating a high cycle stability and fast reaction kinetics. Such outstanding characteristics are attributed to the unique lamellar fibrous texture and high aspect ratio of the developed FP, which provides more active sites and structural stability for the electrode material. This study provides a new approach for developing phosphorus-based electrode materials and expands their application range in LIBs.