Additive-free red phosphorus/Ti3C2TxMXene nanocomposite anodes for metal-ion batteries

Abstract

Herein, we report on scalable, environmentally benign, and additive-free, high-performance anodes for alkali-metal-ion batteries (MIBs, where M = Li+, Na+, K+). The intercalators in these anodes are the red phosphorus (RP) nanoparticles of uniform size (~40 nm), which are dispersible and blend with water-dispersed Ti3C2Tx MXene, forming a highly viscous aqueous slurry to fabricate additive-free nanocomposite electrodes. We further enhanced their performance using a very low weight percentage of various carbonaceous nanomaterials. Our RP-MWCNT/MXene nanocomposite anodes exhibited enhanced ion transport and low charge transfer resistance, delivering specific capacities of 1293.7 mA h g-1 at 500 mA g-1 and 263.3 mA h g-1 at 2600 mA g-1 for 10 000 cycles in Li+ cells, 371.6 mA h g-1 at 500 mA g-1 in Na+ cells, and 732.8 mA h g-1 at 50 mA g-1 in K+ cells. Our work shows a path towards fabricating nanoarchitectured electrodes using sustainable materials to eliminate inert polymer binders, toxic processing solvents, and rare earth elements from the battery fabrication process for next-generation alkali-metal-ion batteries.