Facile phosphorus-embedding into SnS2 using a high-energy ball mill to improve the surface kinetics of P-SnS2 anodes for a Li-ion battery

Herein, we study the effects of phosphorus-embedding on the surface morphology, surface chemical/electrical microstructure, and electrochemical performance of tin sulfides anodes fabricated by a high-energy ball mill method (HEBM) for lithium-ion battery (LiB). Specifically, phosphorus-embedding into SnS2 enlarges the lattice spacing of the major phases of tin phosphides, which facilitates lithiation and delithiation on the surface. The tin phosphorus sulfide anodes show higher electrochemical LiB performances than a pristine SnS2 electrode. Among the four SnPnS2 (n = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8) anodes, the SnP0.6S2 anode exhibits the highest discharge capacity of 404 mAh g−1 at the 200th cycle (@ 500 mA g−1) and capacity retention of 84% after 200 cycles.