Encapsulating Tin Dioxide@Porous Carbon in Carbon Tubes: A Fiber‐in‐Tube Hierarchical Nanostructure for Superior Capacity and Long‐Life Lithium Storage

Abstract

A novel fiber‐in‐tube hierarchical nanostructure of SnO2@porous carbon in carbon tubes (SnO2@PC/CTs) is creatively designed and synthesized though a carbon coating on scalable electrospun hybrid nanofibers template and a post‐etching technique. This 1D nanoarchitecture consists of double carbon‐buffering matrixes, i.e., the external carbon tubular shell and the internal porous carbon skeleton, which can work synergistically to address the various issues of SnO2 nanoanode operation, such as pulverization, particle aggregation, and vulnerable electrical contacts between the SnO2 nanoparticles and the carbon conductors. Thus, the as‐obtained SnO2@PC/CTs nanohybrids used as a lithium‐ion‐battery anode exhibits a higher reversible capacity of 1045 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 after 300 cycles as well as a high‐rate cycling stability after 1000 cycles. The enhanced performance can be attributed to the wonderful merits of the external carbon protective shell for preserving the integrity of the overall electrode, and the internal porous carbon skeleton for inhibiting the aggregation and electrical isolation of the active particles during cycling.

Self-improving anodes for lithium-ion batteries: continuous interlamellar spacing expansion induced capacity increase in polydopamine-derived nitrogen-doped carbon tubes during cycling

“…31 The latter one is believed to be a relatively simple and eco-friendly method to prepare N-doped carbon materials. Polydopamine (PDA), as a nitrogen-rich biomimetic polymer, has been intensively studied as the in situ N-doped carbon precursor for coating Si, [32][33][34] SnO 2 , 35,36 Fe 3 O 4 (ref. 37 and 38) and MnO, 39 which can highly buffer the volume expansion of these high-capacity lithium-storage materials and improve the conductivity of the overall electrode during cycling.…”

Insert Zn Nanoparticles into the 3D Porous Carbon Ultrathin Films as a Superior Anode Material for Lithium Ion Battery

“…Due to the low cost and stable cycling performance, current commercial lithium ion battery anode materials are almost graphite, which has the theoretical specific capacity of only 372 mA h g −1 and it is difficult to meet the increasing demand of improved safety and high energy/power density . Lately, nanostructured Sn, Si, alloy, and transition metal oxides have been extensively explored as an alternative LIB anode due to their outstanding capacity. However, during the Li alloying–dealloying processes, the anode could suffer a large volume expansion and contraction, resulting in a poor cycling behavior, which is a serious challenge in their large‐scale applications in LIBs.…”

Eco-Friendly Fabricated Porous Carbon Nanofibers Decorated with Nanosized SnOx as High-Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

“…Figure a–c shows the CV curves of the initial three cycles of the SnO x @PCNFs electrodes at a scan rate of 0.1 mV s –1 . For all three samples, the sharp cathodic peak observed in the first cycle at about 0.8 V (marked by blue circle) is mainly attributed to the decomposition of the electrolyte to form the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer, and this peak disappears from the second cycle. , Another cathodic peak from 0.75 to 0.005 V (marked by the green rectangle) is attributed to the alloying of Li x Sn as well as the intercalation of Li + storage in the PCNFs. ,, In the following anodic sweep, two humps appearing at 0.55 and 1.20 V (marked by the red circle) correspond to the phase transitions from Li–Sn alloy and Li 2 O to SnO x , respectively. ,,, From Figure a to c, it is easily seen that the two electrochemical reaction humps increase in height with the increase of SnO x content in the three samples at the first anodic sweep. However, at the second anodic process, the two humps of SnO x @PCNFs-3 with the highest SnO x content weaken obviously, showing the inferior reversible capability of the phase transitions (Figure c).…”