SnO2 anode materials for high capacity Li-ion cells

Abstract

Tin-based materials, especially tin oxide, have been widely investigated as potential graphite substitutes anodes
of Li-ion batteries. In comparison to graphite anode, the SnO2 anodes shows high theoretical capacity of 1494
mAhg-1 in a voltage range of 0-2 V, furthermore it is also inexpensive, exhibits low toxicity and is
environmentally friendly. Unfortunately, during the lithiation process (i.e. conversion and alloying reaction), tin
dioxide suffers of a drastic volumetric expansion, that induces surface cracking accompanied by an electrical
contact loss with the current collector and subsequent capacity fading. It’s well known that reducing the particle
size of SnO2, the surface will be increased and consequently the volume expansion during lithium
insertion/extraction will be reduced. For these reasons, we synthesized SnO2 particles by an aerosol method and
we compare the results with commercial SnO2 particles and their mixtures with different carbon sources.
All the materials were morphological and electrochemical characterized in order to investigate the influence of
crystal structure, particle size, morphology and surface area on cell cyclability. Cyclic voltammetry and
galvanostatic discharge/charge cycling have been used to test the electrochemical behavior of SnO2 anodes.