An electrochemical and structural study of highly uniform tin oxide nanowires fabricated by a novel, scalable solvoplasma technique as anode material for sodium ion batteries

摘要

A novel solvoplasma based technique was used to fabricate highly uniform SnO2 nanowires (NWs) for application as an anode in sodium-ion batteries (SIBS). This technique is scalable, rapid, and utilizes a rigorous cleaning process to produce very pure SnO2 NWs with enhanced porosity; which improves sodium-ion hosting and reaction kinetics. The batch of NWs obtained from the plasma process were named the "as-made" sample and after cleaning the "pure" sample. Structural characterization showed that the as-made sample has a K+ ion impurity which is absent in the pure samples. The pure samples have a higher maximum specific capacity, 400.71 mAhg(-1), and Coulombic efficiency, 85%, compared to the as-made samples which have a maximum specific capacity of 174.69 mAhg(-1) and Coulombic efficiency of 74% upon cycling. A study of the electrochemical impedance spectra showed that the as-made samples have a higher interfacial and diffusion resistance than the pure samples and resistances increased after 50 cycles of cell operation for both samples due to progressive electrode degradation.