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

SnO2 is considered as one of the high specific capacity anode materials for Lithium-ion batteries. However, the low electrical conductivity of SnO2 limits its applications. This manuscript reports a simple and efficient approach for the synthesis of Sb-doped SnO2 nanowires (NWs) core and carbon shell structure which effectively enhances the electrical conductivity and electrochemical performance of SnO2 nanostructures. Sb doping was performed during the vapor-liquid-solid synthesis of SnO2 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 SnO2 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 SnO2 NWs electrode. The cycle stability evaluation revealed that the discharge capacity of pure SnO2 NWs and Sb doped SnO2 NWs electrodes were dropped to 52 and 152 mAh g(-1) after100th cycles. The process of Sb doping and carbon nano shielding of SnO2 nanostructures is proposed for noticeable improvement of the anode performance for SnO2 based materials.