Porous CoP/P-C nanofilm grown on lightweight carbon cloth as a binder/additive-free lithium-ion anode with high-performance

Cobalt phosphide is a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to a high theoretical capacity at low potentials when reaction with lithium. While, capacity-decay upon cycling and unsatisfied rate performance limited the practical application in LIBs. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of free-standing electrode composed of CoP/P-C nanofilm and lightweight carbon cloth (denoted as PCC@CoP/P-C) as an anode material for LIBs. The facile and in situ strategy for the synthesis of PCC@CoP/P-C involves phytic acid (PA) complexed with Co2+ and subsequent annealing treatments. Owing to the unique structural merits of CoP/P-C nanofilm and the lightweight PCC, the PCC@CoP/P-C free-standing electrode exhibits an ultrahigh specific stability capacity and nice cycle stability when direct used as anode for LIBs. This work offers an easy and environment friendly method to boost lithium performance for transition metal phosphides anode materials.