Ultrafine SnO2 nanoparticles anchored in the porous corn straw carbon substrate for high-performance Li-ion batteries application

Ultrafine SnO2 nanoparticles anchored in porous corn straw carbon as an anode material of Li-ion batteries are synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. The unique three-dimensional porous structure of corn straw carbon provides ideal accommodation for SnO2 (SnO2/P-CSC), and effectively alleviates the free expansion of SnO2 during charging-discharging process. The SnO2/P-CSC composite exhibits a high capacity of 648 mA h g(-1) after 100 cycles at 0.2 C. In particular, compared with porous corn straw carbon (P-CSC) and pure SnO2, the capacity of SnO2/P-CSC is 1.6 times of P-CSC and 2.7 times of SnO2 respectively. The high-performances may benefit from the 3D structure of P-CSC and the synergistic effects between the SnO2 and P-CSC. The as-proposed synthetic strategy not only provides a new scalable application for corn straw carbon as a sustainable anode but also solves the serious volume expansion problem of SnO2. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.