One-pot synthesis of hierarchical SnO2 hollow nanospindles self-assembled from nanorods and their lithium storage properties

Novel hierarchical SnO2 hollow nanospindles self-assembled from nanorods have been successfully synthesized via a templating approach under hydrothermal conditions. The influence of the reactant concentration on SnO2 products is investigated in detail. It is found that the interplay of the acidic etching of Fe2O3 templates and controlled hydrolysis of SnCl2 is significant for the formation of the hierarchical SnO2 hollow nanostructures. The evolution process and formation mechanism of the hollow structures with nanorods are analyzed from the angle of nucleation and morphology. Moreover, the electrochemical properties of the hollow structures are also studied by charge–discharge cycling, the result displays that the hierarchical SnO2 hollow nanostructure exhibits much better lithium storage properties with higher reversible capacities and enhanced cyclic capacity retention than the commercial SnO2 nanoparticles.