Given the confining effect of porous carbon and strong surface polarity of transition metal phosphides, their composite would be a promising cathode candidate to solve the problems of lithium–sulfur batteries including volume expansion and the shuttling effect of polysulfides. Herein, cobalt phosphide (CoP)-loaded phosphorous (P)-containing carbonized bamboo (CoP/PCBs) composites were fabricated via the co-pyrolysis of phytic acid, waste bamboo and Co(NO3)2·6H2O via Joule heating at 600–1200 °C. Hydrogen radicals released from phytic acid enabled CoP/PCBs with developed porosity (438.1–812.4 m2/g). CoP nanoparticles coated with graphitic carbon were distributed uniformly on a porous matrix of PCBs. CoP/PCBs presented obviously enhanced adsorption capabilities for Li2S6, and 57.8–80.4 wt.% of sulfur was confined in CoP/PCBs/S cathodes. CoP/PCB heated at 1200 °C exhibited a high reversible capacity of 477.5 mAh/g after 500 cycles at a current density of 1 C with an average capacity decay rate of 0.045%. The specific capacity remained at 453.3 mAh/g after 300 cycles even under a high sulfur load of 4.0 mg/cm2. Conversion of sulfur/polysulfides during the electrochemical process could be promoted via the physical confinement of sulfur and chemical confinement of Li2S6. This work provided a valuable reference for the facile fabrication of lithium–sulfur cathodes and utilization of metal phosphides in advanced lithium–sulfur battery systems.
Bi et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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