Porous SnO2 nanostructure with a high specific surface area for improved electrochemical performance

Tin oxide (SnO2) has been attractive as an alternative to carbon-based anode materials because of its fairly high theoretical capacity during cycling. However, SnO2 has critical drawbacks, such as poor cycle stability caused by a large volumetric variation during the alloying/de-alloying reaction and low capacity at a high current density due to its low electrical conductivity. In this study, we synthesized a porous SnO2 nanostructure (n-SnO2) that has a high specific surface area as an anode active material using the Adams fusion method. From the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis and transmission electron microscopy, the as-prepared SnO2 sample was found to have a mesoporous structure with a fairly high surface area of 122 m(2) g(-1) consisting of highly-crystalline nanoparticles with an average particle size of 5.5 nm. Compared to a commercial SnO2, n-SnO2 showed significantly improved electrochemical performance because of its increased specific surface area and short Li+ ion pathway. Furthermore, during 50 cycles at a high current density of 800 mA g(-1), n-SnO2 exhibited a high initial capacity of 1024 mA h g(-1) and enhanced retention of 53.6% compared to c-SnO2 (496 mA h g(-1) and 23.5%).