Sucrose assisted hydrothermal synthesis of SnO2/graphene nanocomposites with improved lithium storage properties

SnO2/graphene nanocomposites are synthesized by a new hydrothermal treatment strategy under the assistance of sucrose. From the images of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM), it can be observed that SnO2 nanoparticles with the size of 4 similar to 5 nm uniformly distribute on the graphene nanosheets. The result demonstrates that sucrose can effectively prevent graphene nanosheets from restacking during hydrothermal treatment and subsequently treatment. The charging/discharging test result indicates that the SnO2/graphene nanocomposites exhibit high specific capacity and excellent cycleability. The first reversible specific capacity is 729 mAh.g(-1) at the current density of 50 mA.g(-1), and remains 646 mAh.g(-1) after 30 cycles at the current density of 100 mA.g(-1), 30 cycles at the current density of 200 mA.g(-1), 30 cycles at the current density of 400 mA.g(-1), 30 cycles at the current density of 800 mA.g(-1), and 30 cycles at the current density of 50 mA.g(-1).