Se4P4nanoparticles confined within porous carbon as a lithium-ion battery anode with superior electrochemical performance.

The exploration of advanced anode materials through rational structure/phase design is the key to developing high-performance rechargeable batteries. Herein, tetraphosphorus tetraselenide (Se4P4) nanoparticles confined within porous carbon (named SeP@C) are developed for lithium-ion batteries. The designed SeP@C shows a set of structural/compositional advantages as lithium-ion battery anodes including high electrical conductivity, low ion diffusion barrier, and relieved lithiation stress. Consequently, the SeP@C electrode displays superior comprehensive lithium storage performance, e.g., high reversible capacity (640.8 mA h g-1at 0.1 A g-1), excellent cycling stability (500 cycles with respective capacity retention of over or nearly 100%), and good rate capability, representing a comparable lithium storage performance in reported phosphide-based anodes. More significantly, it shows excellent energy storage properties in lithium-ion full cells which can light up 85 red LEDs for over 3.2 h. This work offers an advanced electrode construction guidance of phosphorous-based anodes for the development of high-performance energy storage devices.