Facile hydrothermal and sol-gel synthesis of novel Sn-Co/C composite as superior anodes for Li-ion batteries

As an anode material in lithium ion battery, the Sn-Co/C composite electrode materials have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal and sol-gel methods, respectively. The resultant composites were mainly composed of Sn-based oxides, nanometer Sn-Co alloy and carbon. Carbon and Co, acting as buffer materials, can accommodate to the large volume change of active Sn during the discharge-charge process, thus improving the cycling stability. Although charge/discharge curves revealed the excellent cycle performance for samples synthesized by both methods, composites obtained by the sol-gel showed a better dispersion effect of nanoparticles on the carbon matrix and possessed much more improved stable capacity with ~624.9 mAh g−1 over 100 cycles and that by hydrothermal method only exhibited ~299.3 mAh g−1. Therefore, the Sn-Co/C composites obtained by sol-gel synthesis method could be a perfect candidate for anode material of Li-ion storage battery.