Low temperature synthesis of porous tin oxide anode for high-performance lithium-ion battery

• Published in: Electrochimica acta 2013-10, Vol.109, p.461-467
• Main Authors: Rai, Alok Kumar, Anh, Ly Tuan, Gim, Jihyeon, Mathew, Vinod, Kim, Jaekook
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anode; Anodes; Cycles; Electrodes; Lithium batteries; Lithium ion battery; Lithium-ion batteries; Nanoparticles; Rate capability; Storage capacity; Tin dioxide; Tin oxide; Tin oxides
• ISSN: 0013-4686; 1873-3859
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2013.07.128

•Facile, fast and low-cost urea synthesis of porous SnO2 anode for lithium ion battery.•Porous SnO2 anode delivers excellent electrochemical performances.•High surface area, good electric contact and easier Li+ diffusion give high performances.•Finer the sizes of the SnO2 nanoparticles better the cycling stability. In this work, tin oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by a facile and low-cost urea-assisted auto-combustion method in combination with subsequent calcination at a low temperature (350°C/5h), which produces porous structure and less nanometer size of particles (5–10nm). These nanoparticles were employed as the anode material for lithium-ion batteries, delivering better electrochemical properties of high reversible lithium storage capacity (618mAhg−1 after 40 cycles at 0.05C) and high rate capability (as high as 323mAhg−1 at 4.8C), indicating potential application for lithium-ion batteries. The microstructural change in the electrode corresponding to the change in electrochemical behavior was also studied by field-emission transmission electron microscopy, and the results supported the notion that the finer the sizes of the SnO2 nanoparticles better the cycling stability.