Stabilization of Ultra-Small Stannic Oxide Nanoparticles in Optimizing the Lithium Storage Kinetics

Stannic oxide has been considered as an ideal anode electrode in lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) due to its high theoretical capacity but is restricted by its inferior reaction kinetics. Herein, we have proposed ultra-small SnO2 nanoparticle-embedded polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-derived carbon via a simple co-precipitation method. The size of SnO2 nanoparticles can be tuned by controlling the proportion between the Sn precursor and PVA. As an anode for the LiB, SnO2@C4 showed excellent rate and stability performance compared to pure SnO2 and other contrast electrodes. The excellent battery performance of SnO2@C4 is mainly ascribed to the confinement effect of the amorphous carbon shell, which acts as an elastic layer to restrain the volume expansion of SnO2 nanoparticles and a conductive agent to facilitate the electron transfer and optimize the reaction kinetics. The synthetic strategy of the SnO2@C composite material can be easily scalable, which shows its potential value in the practical renewable energy and fuel industry.

Automated summary

Ultra-small SnO2 nanoparticle-embedded polyvinyl alcohol-derived carbon prepared by a simple co-precipitation method exhibits excellent performance in lithium-ion batteries, attributed to the confinement effect of the amorphous carbon shell and the role of conductive agent.