High lithium storage of SnO2/Sn@C enabled by a facile, efficient dual-porous architecture

SnO 2 with a high theoretical capacity has been regarded as a promising candidate for new-generation lithium-ion battery anodes, but challenging as well for the big volumetric variation and poor intrinsic conductivity. To address this challenge, herein, the SnO 2 particles containing a small amount of Sn are reduced to the nanoscale and confined in a dual-porous carbon matrix by a relatively facile strategy, and hence exhibits significantly improved electrochemical performance. It is demonstrated that the synergistic effects of SnO 2 /Sn nanoparticles and dual-porous carbon matrix contribute to fast electrochemical kinetics and enhanced structural stability of the as-prepared SnO 2 -based composite (SnO 2 /Sn@p-C). In particular, the dual-porous carbon matrix with two sizes of pores can not only efficiently accommodate the volumetric variation and prevent the aggregation and pulverization of the SnO 2 /Sn nanoparticles with its big pore confining function, but also promote the ion diffusion and electron transfer by its small pores constructed network conducting open tunnel-like structure. Consequently, the SnO 2 /Sn@p-C exhibits outstanding lithium storage properties, revealing high capacity of 917.7 mA h g −1 at 200 mA g −1 after 450 cycles as well as 628.9 mA h g −1 at 1000 mA g −1 after 1000 cycles. Thus high-performance makes SnO 2 /Sn@p-C a promising advanced lithium-ion battery anode. • A particular dual-porous confining SnO2-based composite was fabricated. • The porous architecture improved the electrochemical properties of the SnO 2 significantly. • This SnO 2 -based composite exhibited high capacity, long life and good rate performance.