Facile one pot molten salt synthesis of nano (M1/2Sb1/2Sn)O4 (M=V, Fe, In)

• Nano- (M1/2Sb1/2Sn)O4 (M=V, Fe, In) prepared for the first time using the molten salt method.
• XRD studies show all compounds are in single phase tetragonal type structure.
• BET surface area of 694, 210 and 81 m2 g−1 for M=V, Fe and In, respectively.
• Li-storage performance is order of M=V,In and Fe in the voltage range, 0.005–1.0 V.

Novel mixed metal oxides, (M1/2Sb1/2Sn)O4 (M=V, Fe, In) were successfully prepared for the first time using the molten salt method (MSM) at low temperature. Compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller surface area technique. (M1/2Sb1/2Sn)O4 has significantly large specific surface area of 694, 210 and 81 m2 g−1 for M=V, Fe and In respectively. Preliminary energy storage studies were carried out under identical conditions and electrochemical reaction mechanism involving alloying–de-alloying reactions of Sn, In and Sb with Li using M=V, Fe as matrix elements were proposed.

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