Facile synthesis and Li-storage performance of SnO nanoparticles and microcrystals

Abstract

Nano- and micron-sized SnO samples are prepared by simple chemical methods and their lithium cycling behavior is investigated and compared. SnO microcrystals with stacked mesh like morphology are prepared from SnF₂ by an aqueous solution synthetic route. SnO nanoparticle-aggregates are prepared from SnCl₂, Na₂CO₃ and NaCl by high energy ball milling. The compounds are characterized by X-ray diffraction, SEM and HRTEM techniques. Galvanostatic cycling studies at a current density of 50 mA g⁻¹ in the voltage range 0.005–0.8 V vs. Li, showed that the micro-SnO has an initial reversible capacity of 790 mA h g⁻¹ with capacity retention of 43% between 5–50 cycles. Under similar cycling conditions, nano-SnO showed a reversible discharge capacity of 738 mA h g⁻¹ with much better capacity retention of 77% between 5–50 cycles. High energy ball milling technique can be adopted for the large scale synthesis of SnO nanoparticles which show novel electrochemical performance as anode material.