Nitrogen-doped porous carbon/Sn composites as high capacity and long life anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

•Nitrogen-doped porous carbon/Sn composites are successfully prepared for the first time.•The novel composites are prepared by the combined carbonization and activation process.•The nitrogen-doped porous carbon is an effective and versatile matrix.•The nitrogen-doped porous carbon/Sn composites show high capacity and long life.

Novel nitrogen-doped porous carbon/Sn composites (NCSs) are successfully prepared by the carbonization-activation process. As a result, the NCSs show good electrochemical performance as anode materials for LIBs, including high reversible capacity of 1117.1 mA h g−1, long life over 250 cycles, and good rate capability (218 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1). The effective synthesis strategy might open new avenues for the design of high-performance carbon/metal composite materials.