Mesoporous carbon-tin nanocomposites as anode materials for Li-ion battery

A dew mesoporous carbon-tin(MC-Sn) nanocomposite has been successfully prepared via a two-step method. From the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations, the tin nanoparticles were decorated on the as-prepared mesoporous carbons. The mesoprous structure of the carbon can effectively buffer the volume changes during the Li-Sn alloying and de-alloying cycles. The as-prepared MC/Sn nanocomposite electrodes exhibited extremely good cycling stability, with the specific capacity of Sn in the composite electrode calculated to be 959.7 mAh.g-1, which amounts to an impressive 96.9% of the theoretical value (990 mAh.g-1). The reversible capacity after 200 cycles is 96.1% of the first cycle reversible capacity, i.e., the capacity fade rate is only 0.0195% per cycle, which is even better than that of commercial graphite-based anodes