Highly Conductive Coaxial SnO2−In2O3 Heterostructured Nanowires for Li Ion Battery Electrodes

• Published in: Nano letters 2007-10, Vol.7 (10), p.3041-3045
• Main Authors: Kim, Dong-Wan, Hwang, In-Sung, Kwon, S. Joon, Kang, Hae-Yong, Park, Kyung-Soo, Choi, Young-Jin, Choi, Kyoung-Jin, Park, Jae-Gwan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic transport in multilayers, nanoscale materials and structures; Equations of state, phase equilibria, and phase transitions; Exact sciences and technology; General studies of phase transitions; Materials science; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nucleation; Physics
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl0715037

Novel SnO2−In2O3 heterostructured nanowires were produced via a thermal evaporation method, and their possible nucleation/growth mechanism is proposed. We found that the electronic conductivity of the individual SnO2−In2O3 nanowires was 2 orders of magnitude better than that of the pure SnO2 nanowires, due to the formation of Sn-doped In2O3 caused by the incorporation of Sn into the In2O3 lattice during the nucleation and growth of the In2O3 shell nanostructures. This provides the SnO2−In2O3 nanowires with an outstanding lithium storage capacity, making them suitable for promising Li ion battery electrodes.