A Peapod‐like CoP@C Nanostructure from Phosphorization in a Low‐Temperature Molten Salt for High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Batteries

Abstract

A mild phosphorization process in low-temperature molten salt (NaCl-KCl-AlCl₃ ) has been developed to synthesize peapod-like CoP@C nanostructures by using low-toxicity industrial PCl₃ as the phosphorus source and Mg as the reductant at 250 °C. Importantly, high efficiency of the phosphorous source is achieved since only stoichiometric PCl₃ is required to complete the reaction. The molten NaCl-KCl-AlCl₃ not only provides a liquid environment but also participates in the electron transport by the reversible conversion of the Al³⁺ /Al redox couple. The obtained 0D-in-1D peapod CoP@C structure exhibits excellent lithium storage performance, delivering a superiorly stable capacity of 500 mAh g^-1 after 800 cycles at a high current of 1.0 A g^-1 .