A novel and facile route of ink-jet printing to thin film SnO2 anode for rechargeable lithium ion batteries

Thin film SnO2 electrode has been prepared for the first time by using a novel facile and low-cost ink-jet printing technique. Wet ball-milling was employed to stabilize SnO2 nano particles and conducting agent acetylene black (AB) using two kinds of polymeric hyperdispersants CH10B and CH12B, respectively, to prepare the stable colloid as “ink”. The morphology, structure, composition and electrochemical performance of SnO2 thin film electrodes were investigated in detail by SEM, TEM, XRD, EDX, cyclic voltammograms (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements. SEM images show uniform distribution of as-printed SnO2 thin film electrodes. The thickness of monolayer thin film electrode was about 770–780 nm by TEM observation. The thickness of SnO2 thin film could be increased by repeating the printing procedure on the Cu foil substrate. The average thickness of 10-layer SnO2 thin-film electrode after compression for electrochemical measurement was about 2.3 μm. High initial discharge capacity about 812.7 mAh/g was observed at a constant discharge current density of 33 μA/cm2 in a potential range of 0.05–1.2 V. It is expected that ink-jet printing is a very feasible, simple, convenient and inexpensive way to prepare thin film electrode for lithium ion batteries.