Two-Phase Transition Induced Amorphous Metal Phosphides Enabling Rapid, Reversible Alkali-Metal Ion Storage

Metal phosphides as anode materials for alkali-metal ion batteries have captured considerable interest due to their high theoretical capacities and electronic conductivity. However, they suffer from huge volume expansion and element segregation during repetitive insertion/extraction of guest ions, leading to structure deterioration and rapid capacity decay. Herein, an amorphous Sn0.5Ge0.5P3 was constructed through a two-phase intermediate strategy based on the elemental composition modulation from two crystalline counterparts and applied in alkali-metal ion batteries. Differing from crystalline P-based compounds, the amorphous structure of Sn0.5Ge0.5P3 effectively reduces the volume variation from above 300% to 225% during cycling. The ordered distribution of cations and anions in the short-range ensures the uniform distribution of each element during cycles and thus contributes to durable cycling stability. Moreover, the long-range disordered structure of amorphous material shortens the ion transport distance, which facilitates diffusion kinetics. Benefiting from the aforementioned effects, the amorphous Sn0.5Ge0.5P3 delivers a high Na storage capacity of 1132 mAh g–1 at 0.1 A g–1 over 100 cycles. Even at high current densities of 2 and 10 A g–1, its capacities still reach 666 and 321 mAh g–1, respectively. As an anode for Li storage, the Sn0.5Ge0.5P3 similarly also exhibits better cycling stability and rate performance compared to its crystalline counterparts. Significantly, the two-phase transition strategy is generally applicable to achieving other amorphous metal phosphides such as GeP2. This work would be helpful for constructing high-performance amorphous anode materials for alkali-metal ion batteries.