Antimony doped SnO2 nanowire@C core–shell structure as a high-performance anode material for lithium-ion battery

Abstract SnO 2 is considered as one of the high specific capacity anode materials for Lithium-ion batteries. However, the low electrical conductivity of SnO 2 limits its applications. This manuscript reports a simple and efficient approach for the synthesis of Sb-doped SnO 2 nanowires (NWs) core and carbon shell structure which effectively enhances the electrical conductivity and electrochemical performance of SnO 2 nanostructures. Sb doping was performed during the vapor-liquid-solid synthesis of SnO 2 NWs in a horizontal furnace. Subsequently, carbon nanolayer was coated on the NWs using the DC Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition approach. The carbon-coated shell improves the Solid-Electrolyte Interphase stability and alleviates the volume expansion of the anode electrode during charging and discharging. The Sb-doped SnO 2 core carbon shell anode showed the superior specific capacity of 585 mAhg −1 after 100 cycles at the current density of 100 mA g −1 , compared to the pure SnO 2 NWs electrode. The cycle stability evaluation revealed that the discharge capacity of pure SnO 2 NWs and Sb doped SnO 2 NWs electrodes were dropped to 52 and 152 mAh g −1 after100th cycles. The process of Sb doping and carbon nano shielding of SnO 2 nanostructures is proposed for noticeable improvement of the anode performance for SnO 2 based materials.