In situ Fabrication of Porous Cox P Hierarchical Nanostructures on Carbon Fiber Cloth with Exceptional Performance for Sodium Storage.

Superior high-rate performance and ultra-long cycling life have always been the constant pursuit of rechargeable sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). Herein, a facile strategy has been employed to successfully synthesize the porous Cox P hierarchical nanostructures supported on flexible carbon fiber cloth (Cox P@CFC), constructing a robust architecture of ordered nanoarrays. Via such a unique design, porous and bare structures can thoroughly expose electroactive surfaces to electrolyte, which is favorable for ultra-fast sodium ions storage. In addition, the carbon fiber cloth (CFC) provides an interconnected 3D conductive network to ensure firm electrical connection of the electrode materials. Besides inherent flexibility of CFC, the integration of hierarchical structures of Cox P with CFC as well as the strong synergistic effect between them do effectively help buffer the mechanical stress caused by repeated sodiation/desodiation, thereby guaranteeing the structure integrity of the overall electrode. Consequently, Cox P@CFC as anode has shown a record high capacity of 279 mAh/g at 5.0 A/g with almost no capacity attenuation after 9000 cycles. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.