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 SnO₂nanoparticle-embedded polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-derived carbon via a simple co-precipitation method. The size of SnO₂nanoparticles 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 SnO₂and 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 SnO₂nanoparticles 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.