Three-dimensional nano/micro-structured porous MoP/CNTs microspheres as high-capacity anode for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract Molybdenum phosphide (MoP) is considered one of the promising electro-active materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to the high theoretical capacity but development of MoP anodes faces challenges such as the poor cycle stability. Herein, we propose a facile strategy to synthesize MoP/CNTs microspheres from a spray drying method followed by a phosphating process. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are inlaid throughout the MoP/CNTs microspheres, which not only promotes the electrical conductivity of the composite, but also relieves volume change during cycling. Benefit from the synergistic effect by coupling the MoP nanoparticles with CNTs and the nano/micro structure, the anode material of porous MoP/CNTs microspheres shows excellent cycling stability and specific capacity, for example, a capacity of 1568 mAh g−1 for 300 cycles at 200 mA g−1. Quantitative kinetics analysis reveals that the charge storage mechanism of MoP/CNTs mainly relies on pseudocapacitance behavior, especially at high scan rates (86.6% at 0.5 mV s−1), which improves the lithium storage performance at high scan rates. Our results provide insights into the design and synthesis of the functional materials with nano-micro structure for high-performance LIBs.