A novel hollowed CoO-in-CoSnO₃ nanostructure with enhanced lithium storage capabilities

The search for well-defined porous/hollowed metal oxide nanocomposites for high performance energy storage is promising. Herein, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been utilized for the construction of a novel hollowed wire-in-tube nanostructure of CoO-in-CoSnO3, for which Co2(OH)2CO3 nanowires are first obtained by a hydrothermal method and then deposited with ALD SnO2. After a proper thermal treatment, a CoO wire-void-CoSnO3 tube was formed with the decomposition of Co2(OH)2CO3 and its simultaneous reaction with the outer SnO2 layer. In this unique wire-in-tube structure, both CoO and CoSnO3 are promising materials for lithium ion battery anodes with high theoretical capacities, and the porous + hollow feature is essential for better electrode/electrolyte contact, shorter ion diffusion path and better structure stability. After a further facile carbon coating, the hollowed wire-in-tube structure delivered an improved capacity of 1162.1 mA h g(-1), which is much higher than that of the bare CoO nanowire. Enhanced rate capability and cycling stability have also been demonstrated with the structure, showing its promising application for the anode material of lithium ion battery. The work also demonstrated an effective way of using ALD SnO2 for electrochemical energy storage that ALD SnO2 plays a key role in the structure formation and also serves as both active material and surface coating.