Facile synthesis of low-dimensional SnO2 nanostructures: An investigation of their performance and mechanism of action as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Owing to high-energy density of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), they have been investigated as an efficient electrochemical power sources for various energy applications. High theoretical capacities of tin oxide (SnO2) anodes have led us a path to meet the ever-growing demands in the development of high-performance electrode materials for LIBs. In this paper, a facile approach is described for the synthesis of porous low-dimensional nanoparticles and nanorods of SnO2 for application in LIBs with the help of Tween-80 as a surfactant. The SnO2 samples synthesized at different reaction temperatures produced porous nanoparticles and nanorods with average diameters of ~7-10 nm and ~70-110 nm, respectively. The SnO2 nanoparticle electrodes exhibit a high reversible charge capacity of 641.1 mAh/g at 200 mA/g after 50 cycles, and a capacity of 340 mAh/g even at a high current density of 1000 mA/g during the rate tests, whereas the porous nanorod electrodes delivers only 526.3 mAh/g at 200 mA/g after 50 cycles and 309.4 mAh/g at 1000 mA/g. It is believed that finer sized SnO2 nanoparticles are much more favorable to trap more Li+ ion during electrochemical cycling, resulting in a large irreversible capacity. In contrast, rapid capacity fading was observed for the porous nanorods, which is the result of their pulverization resulting from repeated cycling.