Morphology effect on the performances of SnO2 nanorod arrays as anodes for Li-ion batteries

Ni foam suppported-SnO2 nanorod arrays with controllable diameter were prepared via a template-free growth method, which was a convenient route for the large-scale growth of pure-phase metal oxide nanorod arrays on metal substrates. The relationship between electrochemical behavior and the shape of SnO2 nanorod arrays has been investigated in detail. SnO2 nanorod arrays with diameter of about 25 nm, as anode materials for Li-ion batteries revealed a capacity of 607 mAh g(-1) (at 0.2 C) up to 50 cycles. The superior performance of the SnO2 nanorods can be mainly attributed to small size of nanorods which reduce volume expansion and lithium diffusion length. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.