Fabrication of hollow SnO2/ZnS@C nanocubes as anode materials for advanced lithium-ion battery

Nanostructured SnO2 and ZnS have been proved to application prospects in lithium-ion battery. However, some severe challenges, such as rapid capacity decay due to volume expansion during the charge/discharge process and poor conductivity, limit their applications. Herein, a hollow cubic SnO2/ZnS@C composite was obtained using ZnSn(OH)(6) cubes as precursor via a hydrothermal reaction and a subsequent carbon coating process. Served as anode material, the SnO2/ZnS@C nanocubes exhibit an initial capacity of 1312.8 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 A g(-1), the coulombic efficiency reaches 73.1%, and it remains 753.5 mA g(-1) over 200 cycles. Moreover, rate capacities of SnO2/ZnS@C composite reach up to 818, 757 and 693 mAh g(-1) at 0.2, 0.5 and 1.0 A g(-1), respectively. The SnO2/ZnS@C nanocubes exhibit the superior performance due to the synergistic effect of Sn and Zn, the hollow structure and the carbon coating. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, a hollow cubic SnO2/ZnS@C composite was prepared as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries via a hydrothermal reaction and carbon coating process. The composite exhibited superior electrochemical performance with high capacity and strong cycling stability.