Novel electrospun SnO_2@carbon nanofibers as high performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries

摘要

SnO_2@carbon (SnO_2@C) nanofibers (NFs) have been prepared by electrospinning method and evaluated as anodes in lithium-ion battery half cells. XRD were carried out to provide further information about the structure of the asprepared NFs, and all the peaks can be readily indexed to the rutile phase SnO_2 (JCPDS No. 41-1445). Electrochemical characterization by galvanostatic charge-discharge tests shows that the NF anodes have first discharge capacities of 1375.5 mA h g~(?1) at 80 mA g~(?1)current density. This excellent Li-ion storage capability of SnO_2 NFs is probably resulting from protection of amorphous carbon and the synergy arising from that the ultrafine SnO_2 particles embedded in the carbon nanofiber (CNF) matrix: the nanometer-sized SnO_2@C NFs can provide not only negligible diffusion times of ions thus faster phase transitions but also enough space to buffer the volume changes during the lithium insertion and extraction reactions. The highly dispersed NFs are expected to be applied as attractive anodes for lithium-ion batteries.