Synthesis and electrochemical performance of a novel nano sized Sn2SbNi composite

Chemical reduction method was employed to prepare nano-sized Sn2SbNi alloy composites used as anode material for rechargeable lithium ion batteries. This strategy was adopted to combine the virtues of both active/inactive and active/active alloys to fabricate a Sn2SbNi alloy powder with two active components and one inactive component. The two active components can realize the high capacity feature of electrode and can make the volume change of electrode take place in a stepwise manner due to the different lithiation potentials of two active components, leading to a stable cycling performance. Sn2SbNi alloy provides a reversible specific capacity over 640 mA·h/g with an excellent cyclic ability. The Sn-Sb-Ni alloy composite material shows to be a good candidate anode material for the lithium ion batteries.