Black Phosphorus Stabilizing Na 2 Ti 3 O 7 /C Each Other with an Improved Electrochemical Property for Sodium-Ion Storage

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2018-10, Vol.10 (43), p.37163-37171
• Main Authors: Song, Tianbing, Chen, Hai, Xu, Qunjie, Liu, Haimei, Wang, Yong-Gang, Xia, Yongyao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b14971

Sodium-ion batteries have increasingly been considered as an attractive alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale applications. High specific capacity and suitable working potential anode materials are one of the keys to search for future developments. Here, a novel and stable sodium titanate/carbon-black phosphorus (NTO/C-BP) hybrids are first fabricated as a promising anode material for advanced sodium-ion batteries. Under the protection of argon (Ar) atmosphere, the direct high-energy mechanical milling of the BP nanoparticle and NTO/C results in the formation of NTO/C-BP hybrids. In other words, the BP nanoparticle can be interconnected with bare NTO by P-O-Ti bonds and/or form stable P-C bonds with the carbon coating layer on the surface of NTO. The NTO/C-BP hybrids are not only beneficial for enhancing specific capacity but also have a great protective effect on the exposure of BP to air by the synergistic effect between BP and NTO/C. The results show that the NTO/C-BP hybrids can deliver very high specific capacity (∼225 mA h g after 55 cycles at 20 mA g , ∼183 mA h g after 100 cycles at 100 mA g ). It is expected from these scientific findings that forming stable P-C bonds and P-O-Ti bonds in this work can serve as a guidance to other Ti-based and P-based electrode materials for practical large-scale application of sodium-ion batteries.