Comparison of morphology and electrochemical behavior between PbSbO2Cl and PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2

•PbSbO2Cl and PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 are prepared by a solution method.•PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 shows higher lithium storage capacity than PbSbO2Cl.•PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 shows better cycling stability than PbSbO2Cl.•PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 shows a reversible capacity of 339.7 mA h g−1 after 30 cycles.

In this work, PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 and PbSbO2Cl are prepared by a simple solution route, and compared by using as lithium storage materials. PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 is the intermediate precursor for hydrothermal preparing PbSbO2Cl. Morphology analysis shows that PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 is composed of irregular particles in the range of 50–100 nm and PbSbO2Cl consists of well-dispersed bulks with the particle size of 200–500 nm. Similar chemical composition between PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 and PbSbO2Cl make they show similar electrochemical behaviors. However, different morphology and structure also make PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 and PbSbO2Cl exhibit different lithium storage capacity and cycling performance. Charge/discharge tests reveal that nanocomposite PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 can deliver a higher initial lithiation capacity (1036.7 mA h g−1) than PbSbO2Cl (993.8 mA h g−1). Upon repeated cycles, PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 also shows better electrochemical properties than PbSbO2Cl, which may be contributed to the maintaining of structural stability by nanocomposite structure. As a result, PbCl2/Sb4O5Cl2 delivers a reversible capacity of 339.7 mA h g−1 after 30 cycles.

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