Red phosphorus confined in MOF-derived N-doped carbon-based composite polyhedrons on carbon nanotubes for high-areal-capacity lithium storage

Combination of high-capacity and flexibility in electrode materials is crucial for flexible electronics. Recently, red phosphorus (P) has caused increasing focus as a hopeful storage material for lithium storage due to its super-high theoretical capacity and low cost. However, the low conductivity of red P and its large volume change during cycling process lead to reduced electrochemical activity. So far, no effective methods have been developed to construct flexible binder-free electrodes using red P as an active material for high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Here, a novel hollow three‐dimensional (3D) internet structure as a flexible high-areal-capacity electrode material was fabricated by confining red P nanoparticles into compact MOF-derived carbon-based composite polyhedrons/carbon nanotube internets. The electrode manifests an excellent lithium storage performance for LIBs with a high discharge capacity of 4.78 mAh cm −2 (1920 mAh g −1 ) at 0.1 mA cm −2 and a good capacity retention of 79.2% at 1 mA cm −2 after 300 cycles (73% and 69% capacity retention at 5 and 10 mA cm −2 after 500 cycles, respectively). The novel flexible anode materials can provide excellent Li + storage performance for flexible electronics applications.