A facile synthesis of SO42 −/SnO2 solid superacid nanoparticles as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

This paper presents a study of SnO2 and SO42−/SnO2 solid superacid nanoparticles, synthesized by a facile sol-gel route, as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). A possible reversible reaction mechanism is proposed for the SO42−/SnO2 solid superacid nanoparticles used as an anode material. The SO42−/SnO2 exhibits a reversible lithium storage capacity of 925mAh g−1 at a low charge–discharge rate of 0.2C (156mAg−1). Furthermore, it exhibits a stable cycling performance over 50cycles at the rate of 0.2C, maintaining the specific capacity of 310mAh g−1, whereas SO42−-free SnO2 only delivers a capacity retention of 126mAh g−1.