As the demand for ultra-fast-charging and high-capacity batteries surges in new-energy vehicles and large-scale energy storage, conventional graphite anodes are rapidly approaching their theoretical limits. Now, a collaborative research team has overcome the long-standing bottlenecks of black phosphorus (BP), a promising next-generation anode material, paving the way for its practical application.

The study, led by Prof. MA Yanwei from the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, was published in Nature Communications on April 21.

Despite its ultra-high lithium storage capacity, black phosphorus has historically been plagued by poor conductivity, sluggish reaction kinetics, and severe volume expansion during cycling. These intrinsic drawbacks cause rapid capacity fading, especially during fast-charging.

To address this, the researchers developed a lattice phosphorus-nitrogen (P-N) bond engineering strategy, which enables stable ultra-high-rate charge-discharge of BP anodes—a critical advancement for the practical application of BP-based fast-charging batteries.

By precisely incorporating P-N bonds into the BP lattice at the atomic scale, the researchers weakened the covalency of adjacent P-P bonds. This induces localized bond cleavage during lithiation, activating P-P bonds to accelerate charge transport and significantly boost the kinetics of conversion reactions.

Leveraging this breakthrough, the researchers fabricated a pouch cell with a BP anode and a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode, achieving an energy density of 282 Wh/kg. Under high-rate charging, the cell reaches 80% of its theoretical capacity in just 10 minutes and maintains stable operation over thousands of cycles, demonstrating exceptional fast-charging cyclability.

"This work establishes a novel technical paradigm for next-generation high-energy and high-power energy storage batteries. It will promote technology progress in in new energy vehicles, grid energy storage and specialized energy storage equipment." said WANG Kai, corresponding author of the study.

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality, and the Australian Research Council.