Employing a 100 °C-dried mixture that contained KMnO4 and SnCl4 as an anode material for lithium ion batteries

A novel finding, that the 100 °C-dried mixtures that contained KMnO4 and SnCl4 can be employed as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), was reported for the first time in this work. In this work, the samples with Mn to Sn atomic ratios of 2:1, 1:1, 0.5:1 and 0:1 were respectively nominated as sample a, b, c and d. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized materials were mainly examined by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD results revealed that the main diffraction peaks assigned to KMnO4 were displayed in sample a and b, and some novel diffraction peaks were exhibited by sample c, and no typical diffraction peaks were displayed by sample d. The presence of irregular particles with no particular morphologies in all prepared samples was demonstrated by the SEM images. The electrochemical performances of the prepared samples were chiefly studied using galvanostatic charge-discharge tests, cyclic voltammometry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The consequences of the electrochemical measurements indicated that sample c delivered a specific capacity of 225 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 20 cycles, and also, at the current density of 700 mA g−1, the discharge capacity of sample c was still maintained as high as 130 mAh g−1 after 10 cycles. A novel group of anode material, i.e., the dried mixtures that contained KMnO4 and SnCl4, was developed in this work, which was very beneficial to the further development of LIBs anode materials mainly because of the rather lower preparation cost and the very simple preparation process.