Self-supported Zn₃P₂ nanowire arrays grafted on carbon fabrics as an advanced integrated anode for flexible lithium ion batteries

We, for the first time, successfully grafted well-aligned binary lithium-reactive zinc phosphide (Zn₃P₂) nanowire arrays on carbon fabric cloth by a facile CVD method. When applied as a novel self-supported binder-free anode for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the hierarchical three-dimensional (3D) integrated anode shows excellent electrochemical performances: a highly reversible initial lithium storage capacity of ca. 1200 mA h g^-1 with a coulombic efficiency of up to 88%, a long lifespan of over 200 cycles without obvious decay, and a high rate capability of ca. 400 mA h g^-1 capacity retention at an ultrahigh rate of 15 A g^-1. More interestingly, a flexible LIB full cell is assembled based on the as-synthesized integrated anode and the commercial LiFePO₄ cathode, and shows striking lithium storage performances very close to the half cells: a large reversible capacity over 1000 mA h g^-1, a long cycle life of over 200 cycles without obvious decay, and an ultrahigh rate performance of ca. 300 mA h g^-1 even at 20 A g^-1. Considering the excellent lithium storage performances of coin-type half cells as well as flexible full cells, the as-prepared carbon cloth grafted well-aligned Zn₃P₂ nanowire arrays would be a promising integrated anode for flexible LIB full cell devices.