Shape-controlled synthesis and lithium storage properties of SnO2 nonspherical hollow structures

Abstract

In this work, a variety of uniform SnO₂ nonspherical hollow structures, such as peanuts, capsules and pseudocubes, can be synthesized by using monodisperse hollow silica nonspherical colloids with different shapes as templates. The method is based on a polycrystalline SnO₂ coating on the surface of the hollow silica colloidal template with different shapes and the sequential HF-dissolution of the silica. It is noted that the shapes of these SnO₂ nonspherical hollow structures are similar to those of the colloidal templates. By virtue of the hollow interior voids, the SnO₂ hollow structures with different shapes exhibit improved lithium storage properties compared to SnO₂ solid spheres.