Rodlike SnO2/graphene nanocomposite and its application for lithium-ion batteries

Rodlike SnO2/graphene nanocomposite is prepared through a simple hydrothermal method followed by a subsequent calcination process. The SEM images show that the resulting composite possesses a rodlike structure with a diameter of 100–200 nm and length of 5-10um. Through further TEM analysis, we found that the rods are composed of SnO2 nanoparticles in 5–10 nm and graphene sheets in 2-5layers. This unique structure can not only effectively alleviate the volume expansion, but also greatly improve the rate performance of the material. As a result, the obtained composite shows a reversible capacity of 675.8 mAh·g−1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 500 m A·g−1. Increasing the current densities to 1000 m A·g−1 and 2000 mAg−1, the composite can still maintain 655.6 mAh·g−1 and 601.5 mAh·g−1 respectively, which indicate that the rodlike SnO2/graphene composite reported in this paper is a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries.