High performance lithium-ion and lithium–sulfur batteries using prelithiated phosphorus/carbon composite anode

Controlled chemical prelithiation of high capacity phosphorous/carbon (P/C) composite anode has been applied to develop advanced lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The initial coulombic efficiency (CE) of P/C is significantly improved (up to 93% for fully-prelithiated P/C) owing to the formation of an artificial solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer, which is characterized by SEM, Raman and XPS analyses. It ensures the application of P/C anode in real battery assembly. A partly-prelithiated P/C anode prepared by 20 s prelithiation treatment is paired with a LiCoO2 (LCO) cathode. The full cell delivers a highly reversible capacity of ~104 mAh g−1LCO at 1C rate and retains a CE close to 100% over 2000 cycles. Moreover, a fully-prelithiated P/C anode prepared by 10 min prelithiation treatment is paired with a high-capacity Li-free sulfur/carbon (S/C) cathode. This newly configured full cell delivers a good rate and cycling performance and a high energy density of 358 Wh kg−1.