SnO2–MnO2–SnO2 sandwich-structured nanotubes as high-performance anodes of lithium ion battery

• Novel SnO2–MnO2–SnO2 SNTs are synthesized via a simple wet-chemical route.
• SNTs exhibit high reversible capacity, cyclability and rate capability as LIBs anodes.
• Excellent performances are attributed to synergistic effect and the tubular nanostructures.

SnO2–MnO2–SnO2 sandwich-structured nanotubes are synthesized by uniformly coating SnO2 nanoparticles on both the inner and outer walls of α-MnO2 nanotubes via a simple wet-chemical route. As the anodes of lithium ion batteries, SnO2–MnO2–SnO2 sandwich-structured nanotubes exhibit high reversible capacity, cyclability and rate capability. The reversible capacity of the nanocomposites is 847.5 mAh/g and retains 716.0 mAh/g after 50 cycles, which is higher than that of α-MnO2 or SnO2. At 20C rate, SnO2–MnO2–SnO2 sandwich-structured nanotubes can deliver a capacity of 224.2 mAh/g. Such excellent performances can be attributed to the synergistic effect and the tubular nanostructures. Our results imply that one-dimensional sandwich-structured nanocomposites have potential applications in lithium ion batteries.