Cobalt phosphide nanoparticles grown on Ti3C2 nanosheet for enhanced lithium ions storage performances

MXene is widely used as electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries due to its unique morphology, which realizes rapid ion diffusion and provides more ion insertion channels, whereas transition metal phosphides show a promising lithium storage performance in the field of energy storage due to their high theoretical capacity. In the present paper, cobalt phosphide nanoparticles (NPs) were self-grown on Ti3C2 sheets via a low-temperature phosphating method, which showed good cycle stability as the anode in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). After 1000 cycles, the specific capacity was maintained at 650 mAh g(-1) with a high coulombic efficiency (98.8%) at 700 mA g(-1), which was approximately 4 and 6 times higher than that of pristine CoP-Co2P and pure Ti3C2, respectively. The enhanced electrochemical performance was attributed to the large specific surface (61.2 m(2) g(-1)), which offered sufficient active sites for the electrochemical reaction. Also, the outstanding redox reaction activity of cobalt phosphide effectively improved the electrochemical reaction efficiency during the charge-discharge process. The strategy proposed in this study could be extended to other two dimensional (2D) materials to achieve their full potential. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

MXene is widely used as electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries due to its unique morphology, while transition metal phosphides show promising lithium storage performance. In this study, cobalt phosphide nanoparticles were self-grown on Ti3C2 sheets as an anode in LIBs, exhibiting good cycle stability and high specific capacity, which was attributed to the large specific surface area and outstanding redox reaction activity of cobalt phosphide. This strategy could be extended to other 2D materials to achieve their full potential.