Electrochemical investigation of SnSb nano particles for lithium-ion batteries

•SnSb nano alloys shows rhombohedral β-SnSb phase.•Transmission electron microscope shows particle size is in range 20–30 nm.•The active material coated on Cu foil with lower voltage range shows, higher capacity retention.•The capacity of Ni mesh coated samples shows slightly lower than the Cu foil.

The nanosized SnSb alloy was synthesized by a reductive co-precipitation method using NaBH4 as a reducing agent. In order to get fine powder with uniformly distributed particles, the final product was sonicated and stirred for 48 h with isopropyl alcohol, dried at 100 °C and characterized by various techniques. Galvanostatic cycling results showed initial reversible capacities of 1300 and 1500 mA h g−1 respectively for Cu foil and Ni mesh current collector, at a constant current density of 60 mA g−1 in the potential range of 0.005–1.5 V. Upon increasing the potential window from 1.5 to 3 V, the initial reversible capacity of Cu foil increased to 1400 mA h g−1 whereas for Ni mesh, the same capacity of 1500 mA h g−1 is obtained. However, the capacity fading is found to be significantly lower in the Ni mesh compared to Cu foil. The coulombic efficiency of the Cu foil and Ni mesh current collector is better maintained at 99% in the potential window between 0.005–1.5 V in comparison with 0.005–3 V. The electrochemical impedance studies imply that the kinetic properties of Li+ are very fast even after 50 cycles.

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