Comparison of the Electrochemical Behaviour of SnO2 and PbO2 Negative Electrodes for Lithium Ion Batteries

In this paper we report our structural and electrochemical investigations of tin dioxide and lead dioxide electrodes in order to highlight the difference observed between them. The electrochemical reactions of these two oxides are known: the reduction of the metal oxide and the reversible formation/decomposition of the lithium-metal alloys. The reversible capacity of these systems is based on the alloy formation. The first reaction is supposedly irreversible (formation of Li(2)O), but the X-ray diffraction analysis and especially (119)Sn Mossbauer spectrometry show a possible re-oxidation of the metal particles in the case of tin dioxide electrodes. However, this reaction is not fully reversible and occurs at a high potential vs. Li. For lead dioxide electrodes, the re-oxidation of the metal particles seems more difficult in spite of the similar structure of both oxides.