Synthesis of Highly Monodispersed SnO₂/Carbon Nanocomposites for Li-Ion Battery Anode

A simple and easily scalable process to form a SnO₂/carbon composite was achieved using ethanol, SnCl₄ · 5H₂O, and iodine. In the process, two reactions occur simultaneously: alcoholysis of Sn⁴⁺ and carbonization of ethanol by iodine. Ethanol is important to the synthesis of the SnO₂/carbon composite, as it acts as both a solvent and carbon precursor. As the amount of NaCl decreased from 0.0005 to 0.0003 mol, the morphology shifted from flakes to self-assembled nanospheres with diameters of 100-150 nm. The correlation between the structural and electrochemical performance was processed. However, for the SnO₂/carbon composites, the capacity decreased to 350.2 mAh g^-1 within 50 cycles.