Binder strategy towards improving the rate performance of nanosheet-assembled SnO2 hollow microspheres

How to improve SnO2-based anode lithium-storage performance at high rate is a very important issue. Herein, a binder strategy on improving the high rate performance of SnO2 has been proposed. First of all, well-designed nanosheet-assembled SnO2 hollow microspheres were synthesized via a facile template-free hydrothermal route and then Na-alginate as a binder, instead of the commonly used polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), was first used with the SnO2 hollow microspheres as an anode material for Li ion batteries. The result shows that the SnO2 hollow microspheres exhibited a remarkable capacity of 690 and 570 mA h g(-1) after 50 cycles at a rate of 1 and 2 C, respectively, which is much better than those of other cases, such as the SnO2 hollow microspheres with PVDF as a binder and SnO2 nanoparticles with Na-alginate. This work demonstrates that the binder strategy indeed is an effective means to improve cycling performance and rate capability for high-capacity electrode materials with large volume variations.