Résumé
Zinc phosphide, Zn
3P
2, was synthesized as powders using three different preparation routes: ball-milling, followed by annealing and ceramic at high temperature. The mechanism of lithium insertion in these various Zn
3P
2 powders is shown to be unique and involves two distinct but parallel reversible pathways for a large number of inserted lithium (up to 6): one implies exclusively phosphide phases: Zn
3P
2, LiZnP, Li
4ZnP
2 and Li
3P. The second one only involves Li–Zn alloys: Zn, LiZn
4, LiZn. Structural resemblances of the various involved phases account for the rather good reversibility of the electrochemical mechanism.