Cobalt phosphide nanoparticles grown on Ti₃C₂ nanosheet for enhanced lithium ions storage performances

MXene is widely used as electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries due to its unique morphology, which realizes rapid ion diffusion and provides more ion insertion channels, whereas transition metal phosphides show a promising lithium storage performance in the field of energy storage due to their high theoretical capacity. In the present paper, cobalt phosphide nanoparticles (NPs) were self-grown on Ti₃C₂ sheets via a low-temperature phosphating method, which showed good cycle stability as the anode in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). After 1000 cycles, the specific capacity was maintained at 650 mAh g⁻¹ with a high coulombic efficiency (98.8%) at 700 mA g⁻¹, which was approximately 4 and 6 times higher than that of pristine CoP–Co₂P and pure Ti₃C₂, respectively. The enhanced electrochemical performance was attributed to the large specific surface (61.2 m² g⁻¹), which offered sufficient active sites for the electrochemical reaction. Also, the outstanding redox reaction activity of cobalt phosphide effectively improved the electrochemical reaction efficiency during the charge-discharge process. The strategy proposed in this study could be extended to other two dimensional (2D) materials to achieve their full potential.