Fast and Stable Batteries with High Capacity Enabled by Germanium-Phosphorus Binary Nanoparticles Embedded in a Porous Carbon Matrix via Metallothermic Reduction.

Lithium-alloyable materials such as Ge and P have attracted considerable attention as promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical capacity. However, these materials inevitably undergo capacity attenuation caused by large volume expansion in repeated electrochemical processes. Herein, we propose a facile strategy to synthesize germanium-phosphorus binary nanoparticles embedded in porous carbon (GPBN/C) via metallothermic reduction. As an LIB anode, the GPBN/C electrode exhibits outstanding rate performance (368 mAh g-1 at 40 A g-1) and remarkable long-term cycling ability (541 mAh g-1 at 1.0 A g-1 after 1000 cycles). Besides, the GPBN/C composite electrode presents an outstanding cycling performance at wide temperature ranges, showing reversible capacities of 1030 and 696 mAh g-1 at 60 and 0 °C, respectively. Attributed to the formation of highly dispersed Ge-P nanoparticles in a porous carbon matrix, the GPBN/C electrode shows exceptional electrochemical performance. Importantly, our strategy provides an effective way to explore alloy-type electrodes to develop fast and stable high-capacity batteries.