Challenges and Development of Tin-Based Anode with High Volumetric Capacity for Li-Ion Batteries

Abstract

The ever-increasing energy density needs for the mass deployment of electric vehicles bring challenges to batteries. Graphitic carbon must be replaced with a higher-capacity material for any significant advancement in the energy storage capability. Sn-based materials are strong candidates as the anode for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to their higher volumetric capacity and relatively low working potential. However, the volume change of Sn upon the Li insertion and extraction process results in a rapid deterioration in the capacity on cycling. Substantial effort has been made in the development of Sn-based materials. A SnCo alloy has been used, but is not economically viable. To minimize the use of Co, a series of Sn–Fe–C, SnyFe, Sn–C composites with excellent capacity retention and rate capability has been investigated. They show the proof of principle that alloys can achieve Coulombic efficiency of over 99.95% after the first few cycles. However, the initial Coulombic efficiency needs improvement. The development and application of tin-based materials in LIBs also provide useful guidelines for sodium-ion batteries, potassium-ion batteries, magnesium-ion batteries and calcium-ion batteries. Graphic Abstract

Impact of Surface Chemistry of Silicon Nanoparticles on the Structural and Electrochemical Properties of Si/Ni3.4Sn4 Composite Anode for Li-Ion Batteries

“…This conversion reaction ensures the nanostructured state of Sn-forming alloys, Ni 3 Sn 4 and Li z Sn, on cycling [ 12 ]. It should be also noticed that very similar featureless anodic branches are observed at cycles 3 ( Figure 7 b) and 400 ( Figure 7 c), which is concomitant with the long-term cycling stability of Si O -NiSn ( Figure 6 a).…”

“…Firstly, there are novel carbonaceous-based materials such as carbon nanotubes, carbon nanospheres, graphene and porous graphitic carbon [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Secondly, there are conversion-type transition metal compounds such as transition metal oxides, sulphides, selenides, fluorides, nitrides, phosphides and hydrides [ 9 , 10 ], and finally, there are silicon and tin-based anodes [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…Pure p -type elements like Si or Sn are considered as promising to develop negative electrodes for Li-ion batteries [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Indeed, they can both be lithiated [ 15 ] to form binary compounds (Li 4.4 Sn and Li 3.75 Si) with very large electrochemical capacities (994 and 3600 mAhg −1 , respectively) [ 12 , 16 , 17 ]. In addition to their high theoretical capacity, these elements have low potential and environmental friendliness.…”

“…To overcome these drawbacks, embedding the capacitive elements in a metallic matrix able to provide good electronic conductivity and to hold the volume changes is a beneficial solution [ 22 ]. This can be done with binary compounds having one element reacting with Li when the other one remains inactive, like for Ni 3 Sn 4 [ 23 , 24 , 25 ], Cu 6 Sn 5 [ 26 ], CoSn 2 [ 27 ], FeSn 2 [ 12 ], NiSi 2 [ 28 ] or TiSi 2 [ 29 ].…”

Enhanced Electrochemical Performance Promoted by Tin in Silica Anode Materials for Stable and High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries

“…When used as an electrode material, it shows a high theoretical capacity of 994 mAh·g −1 with the formation of Li 4.4 Sn and fitting working potential (~0.5 V). However, the huge volume changes (~260%) it suffers during Li alloying/dealloying can always lead to rapid fading of capacity and subsequently poor cyclability [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ].…”