Synthesis and electrochemical investigation of tin dioxide-based elastic hollow microspheres for lithium storage

Abstract

Elastic hollow SnO2 microspheres are synthesized through a facile templating method. The obtained hollow microspheres have a size of 1–3 μm, which are assembled by lots of nanoparticles of ∼20 nm. The electrochemical performance of the spheres as anode materials for lithium–ion batteries is evaluated. Benefited from the intrinsic structure advantages, the hollow tin dioxide exhibits good electrochemical lithium storage performance with high specific capacity and excellent rate capability. The good electrochemical performance should be reasonably ascribed to the mesoporous and hollow structures, which guarantee vast lithium storage sites, fast lithium–ion insertion/deinsertion, and sufficient void space to buffer the volume expansion. Most importantly, our results provide a new route to prepare hollow SnO2 microspheres and can be applied generally to a wide range of materials.