Bimetal-Organic-Framework Derivation of Ball-Cactus-Like Ni-Sn-P@C-CNT as Long-Cycle Anode for Lithium Ion Battery

Metal phosphides are a new class of potential high-capacity anodes for lithium ion batteries, but their short cycle life is the critical problem to hinder its practical application. A unique ball-cactus-like microsphere of carbon coated NiP2/Ni3Sn4 with deep-rooted carbon nanotubes (Ni-Sn-P@C-CNT) is demonstrated in this work to solve this problem. Bimetal-organic-frameworks (BMOFs, Ni-Sn-BTC, BTC refers to 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid) are formed by a two-step uniform microwave-assisted irradiation approach and used as the precursor to grow Ni-Sn@C-CNT, Ni-Sn-P@C-CNT, yolk–shell Ni-Sn@C, and Ni-Sn-P@C. The uniform carbon overlayer is formed by the decomposition of organic ligands from MOFs and small CNTs are deeply rooted in Ni-Sn-P@C microsphere due to the in situ catalysis effect of Ni-Sn. Among these potential anode materials, the Ni-Sn-P@C-CNT is found to be a promising anode with best electrochemical properties. It exhibits a large reversible capacity of 704 mA h g−1 after 200 cycles at 100 mA g−1 and excellent high-rate cycling performance (a stable capacity of 504 mA h g−1 retained after 800 cycles at 1 A g−1). These good electrochemical properties are mainly ascribed to the unique 3D mesoporous structure design along with dual active components showing synergistic electrochemical activity within different voltage windows.