Preparation and electrochemical properties of Sn/C composites

The metal tin (Sn), as one potential anode material for lithium-ion batteries, rapidly degrades its cyclic performance due to huge volume expansion/contraction during lithium intercalation/de-intercalation process. Amorphous carbon was adopted as conductive and buffer matrix to form Sn/C composites. The products were prepared by hydrothermal reaction and carbothermal reduction using tin tetrachloride and glucose as raw materials. The composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements. The results show that relative smaller metallic tin particles in 1:8 Sn/C composite are formed and distributed more uniformly in the carbon matrix. The lithium intercalation capacity of Sn/C composites reaches 820.4 mAh·g⁻¹, and the capacity retention over 60 cycles remains 54.1%. 1:8 Sn/C composite exhibits enhanced rate performance and cyclic stability compared to 1:5 and 1:10 samples.