Facile solvothermal synthesis of mesoporous Cu2SnS3 spheres and their application in lithium-ion batteries

Three dimensional (3D) mesoporous Cu2SnS3 spheres composed of nanoparticles were synthesized by a simple solvothermal route. As anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, they delivered remarkably enhanced cycling performances. This could be attributed to the 3D mesoporous structure which may be propitious to the accommodation of volume expansion. Besides, a possible electrochemical reaction mechanism was proposed based on cyclic voltammetry (CV) testing results and confirmed by subsequent ex situ XRD studies. In addition, the influence of testing temperature on cycling performance has also been investigated.