An amorphous TiOx-coated black phosphorus composite with enhanced cycling performance as an anode for lithium-ion batteries

Black phosphorus (BP) has attracted much attention as a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries. However, poor environmental stability, large volume expansion, and irreversible solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) have limited its practical applications. Herein, an electrode-coating method was adopted to spin-coat the amorphous TiOx precursor onto the surface of the ball-milled BP–C electrode. Then heat treatment was performed to obtain an evenly coated BP–[email protected]x structure. The TiOx protective layer contributed a certain capacity and the generated LiyTiOx layer could mitigate the volume expansion, resulting in enhancing the stability of the electrode structure and slowing down the capacity decay. After 50 cycles, the BP–[email protected]x electrode possessed an initial discharge capacity of 2396 mAh g−1 and a reversible capacity of 702 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1. In addition, the amorphous structure of TiOx promoted ion diffusion and ensured the rapid transport of Li+, thus the coated electrode could maintain the high-rate capacity of 278 mAh g−1 at 2 A g−1 and good long-term cycling performance with the capacity retention rate of 79.3 % after 1000 cycles at 2 A g−1. The proposed strategy provides a new inspiration for high-performance alloyed anode materials.