Electrochemical studies of CNT/Si-SnSb nanoparticles for lithium ion batteries

Nano-structured SnSb, SnSb-CNT, Si-SnSb and Si-SnSb-CNT alloys were synthesized from metal chlorides of Sn, Sb and Si via reductive co-precipitation technique using NaBH4 as reducing agent. The as prepared compounds were characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman, Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The electrochemical performances of the compounds were characterized by galvanostatic cycling (GC) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The Si-SnSb-CNT compound shows a high reversible capacity of 1200 mAh g(-1). However, the rapid capacity fading was observed during cycling. In contrast, SnSb-CNT compound showed a high reversible capacity of 568 mAh g(-1) at 30th cycles with good cycling stability. The improved reversible capacity and cyclic performance of the SnSb-CNT compound could be attributed to the nanosacle dimension of SnSb particles and the structural advantage of CNTs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.