Facile Production of Phosphorene Nanoribbons towards Application in Lithium Metal Battery.

Yu, Wei; Yang, Jinlin; Li, Jing; Zhang, Kun; Xu, Haomin; Zhou, Xin; Chen, Wei; Loh, Kian Ping · Adv Mater · 2021

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

Like phosphorene, phosphorene nanoribbon (PNR) promises exotic properties but unzipping phosphorene into edge-defined PNR is non-trivial because of uncontrolled cutting of phosphorene along random directions. Here a facile electrochemical strategy to fabricate zigzag-edged PNRs in high yield (>80%) is reported. The presence of chemically active zigzag edges in PNR allows it to spontaneously react with Li to form a Li<sup>+</sup> ion conducting Li<sub>3</sub> P phase, which can be used as a protective layer on Li metal anode in lithium metal batteries (LMBs). PNR protective layer prevents the parasitic reaction between lithium metal and electrolyte and promotes Li<sup>+</sup> ion diffusion kinetics, enabling homogenous Li<sup>+</sup> ion flux and long-time cycling stability up to 1100 h at a current density of 1 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> . LiFePO<sub>4</sub> |PNR-Li full-cell batteries with an areal capacity of 2 mAh cm<sup>-2</sup> , a lean electrolyte (20 µl mAh<sup>-1</sup> ) and a negative/positive (N/P) electrodes ratio of 3.5 can be stably cycled over 100 cycles.