Self-Standing Hierarchical P/CNTs@rGO with Unprecedented Capacity and Stability for Lithium and Sodium Storage

Red phosphorus (P) suffers from large volume variation and poor conductivity as anodes for lithium and sodiumion batteries. Moreover, the currently used evaporation-condensation preparation method raises serious safety concerns, and ball-milled P/C also gives poor performance because of interparticle adhesion. Here, we present a mild solution synthesis of unique hierarchical P/CNTs@rGO, which not only achieves maximum conductivity in red P agglomerates but also provides volume variation space to relieve the pulverization issues. Even at a high P content of 70 wt %, P/CNTs@rGO still exhibits a specific capacity of 2,189.1 mA hr g(-1) for lithium-ion batteries and 2,112.9 mA hr g(-1) for sodiumion batteries. These values are very close to the theoretical specific capacity. More importantly, it achieves an unprecedented gravimetric capacity of 1,532.4 mA hr g(-1) on the basis of the mass of the whole electrode, as well as excellent cycling performance for 500 cycles, representing the best Li-storage performance among red-P-based electrodes to date.