Large-size carbon-coated SnO2 composite as improved anode material for lithium ion batteries

SnO2 microbelt coating carbon composite was fabricated via electrospinning precursor, thermal treatment, and polymer adhesion process. Primarily, the solvent of electrospinning jet quickly evaporates in a relatively high-temperature environment; intermediate microtubules simultaneously form when the solute containing tin salt and binder converge on the skin of the jet; then, the microtubules collapse into flat microbelt product under the action of atmospheric pressure. Subsequently, SnO2 microbelts can be obtained by annealing the electrospinning products. Finally, the SnO2@C microbelts are synthesized by dopamine polymerization and carbonization process. The SnO2@C microbelts present a regular strip with width ~ 1.2 μm and thickness ~ 120 nm. Because of the synergy effect of carbon coating and SnO2 microbelt design project, the composite shows superior lithium storage of 504 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 A g-1. The SnO2@C microbelts are expected to be competitive alternative anode material of next-generation LIBs.