A High-Capacity and Long-Cycle-Life Lithium-Ion Battery Anode Architecture: Silver Nanoparticle-Decorated SnO2/NiO Nanotubes

The combination of high-capacity and long-term cyclability has always been regarded as the first priority for next generation anode materials in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To meet these requirements, the Ag nanoparticle decorated mesoporous SnO2/NiO nanotube (m-SNT) anodes were synthesized via an electrospinning process, followed by fast ramping rate calcination and subsequent chemical reduction in this work. The one-dimensional porous hollow structure effectively alleviates a large volume expansion during cycling as well as provides a short lithium-ion duffusion length. Furthermore, metallic nickel (Ni) nanoparticles converted from the NiO nanograins during the lithiation process reversibly decompose Li2O during delithiation process, which significantly improves the reversible capacity of the m-SNT anodes. In addition, Ag nanoparticles uniformly decorated on the m-SNT via a simple chemical reduction process significantly improve rate capability and also contribute to long-term cyclability. The m-SNT@Ag anodes exhibited excellent cycling stability without obvious capacity fading after 500 cycles with a high capacity of 826 mAh g–1 at a high current density of 1000 mA g–1. Furthermore, even at a very high current density of 5000 mA g–1, the charge-specific capacity remained as high as 721 mAh g–1, corresponding to 60% of its initial capacity at a current density of 100 mA g–1.