Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of Porous SnO2 Agglomerates

Porous SnO2 agglomerates with crystalline pore walls were obtained by employing CTAB and trimethyl phosphate (TMP) as molecular co-templates via hydrothermal method. Tin (IV) chloride dihydrate was used as the inorganic precursor at high molar ratio of surfactant/Sn4+. The resulting samples were characterized by SEM, (HR)TEM, XRD, thermal analysis and nitrogen adsorption-desorption to examine the structural and morphological characters. The results indicate that the addition of small co-template TMP can facilitate the assembling of tin ions near the CTAB micelles, which can increase the specific surface area and improve the thermal stability of the resulted sample. The electrochemical properties of porous SnO2 as the anode materials of lithium-ion battery (LIB) are further investigated by using galvanostatic method. The porous SnO2 calcined at 300 degrees C displays a much higher reversible capacity of 962.4 mAh/g, which can be ascribed to the incomplete combustion of the organic materials and the unique nanostructure itself. The addition of bigger counter ions with large electric negativity might give an alternative approach to improve the properties of porous metal oxides synthesized by soft template method.