Sandwich-like nanostructure of amorphous ZnSnO3 encapsulated in carbon nanosheets for enhanced lithium storage

The design and fabrication of fancy nanostructure materials, as a general method, are deemed to be essential for their applications in energy storage fields. Especially, encapsulating uniform functional nanomaterials in conductive carbon thin films can remarkably enhance the overall electrochemical performance. Herein, a sandwich-like composite, i.e., amorphous ZnSnO3 nanoparticles encapsulated in thin carbon nanosheets (ZnSnO3@C) was synthesized by using ZnSn(OH)(6) nanosheets as template and ensuing surface glucose coating and annealling. While evaluated as an anode material in LIBs, the sandwich-like nanocomposite exhibits a significantly enhanced reversible capacity and cycling stability. This novel nanostructure may also be important for other applications, such as catalysis, sensing and electronic areas. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.