Transition-metal phosphides (TMPs), a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), are limited in application because of its serious volume effect in the cycle. In this work, a simple electrospinning strategy was proposed to restrict the grain size of CoP nanocrystals by nano-confined effect of carbon nanofibers with ligands. The addition of ligands not only could realize the uniform dispersion of CoP nanocrystals, but also strengthen the bond between the metals and carbon nanofibers. As a result, the CoP/CNF composite exhibits excellent lithium storage performance, and its reversible specific capacity could reach 1016.4 mAh g− 1 after 200 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g− 1. The research is anticipated to provide a new idea for the preparation of anode materials for lithium ion batteries.

    Abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Experimental section
        2.1 Materials
        2.2 Synthesis of CoPCNFs
        2.3 Characterization
        2.4 Electrochemical measurements
    3 Results and discussion
    4 Conclusions
    Acknowledgements 
    References

• Qinghua Wang(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)
• Wei Wang(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Low Energy Material, Guangxi Normal University)
• Junlin Huang(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)
• Hong Yin(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)
• Yucan Zhu(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)
• Haitao Wang(School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Engineering Research Center of Phosphorus Resources Development and Utilization of Ministry of Education, Wuhan Institute of Technology)
• Minjie Zhou(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)
• Binhong He(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)
• Zhaohui Hou(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)
• Wenyuan Xu(Key Laboratory of Hunan Province for Advanced Carbon‑Based Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology)