Inexpensive Antimony Nanocrystals and Their Composites with Red Phosphorus as High-Performance Anode Materials for Na-ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries increasingly become of immense research interest as a potential inexpensive alternative to Lithium-ion batteries. Development of high-energy-density negative electrodes (anodes) remains to be a great challenge, especially because of significant differences between lithium and sodium chemistries. Two Na-ion anode materials - antimony (Sb) and phosphorus (P) - have been recently shown to offer excellent cycling stability (Sb) and highest known Na-ion charge storage capacity (P). In this work we report on the synergistic Na-ion storage in a P/Sb/Cu-nanocomposite, produced by mixing inexpensive colloidal Sb nanocrystals with red P and with copper (Cu) nanowires. In comparison to electrodes composed of only phosphorus, such P/Sb/Cu-composite shows much greater cycling stability providing a capacity of above 1100 mAh g(-1) after 50 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 125 mA g(-1). Furthermore, P/Sb/Cu-composite also exhibits excellent rate-capability, with capacity of more than 900 mAh g(-1) at a high charge/discharge current density of 2000 mA g(-1).