Antimony doped SnO₂nanowire@C core-shell structure as a high-performance anode material for lithium-ion battery

SnO₂is considered as one of the high specific capacity anode materials for Lithium-ion batteries. However, the low electrical conductivity of SnO₂limits its applications. This manuscript reports a simple and efficient approach for the synthesis of Sb-doped SnO₂nanowires (NWs) core and carbon shell structure which effectively enhances the electrical conductivity and electrochemical performance of SnO₂nanostructures. Sb doping was performed during the vapor-liquid-solid synthesis of SnO₂NWs in a horizontal furnace. Subsequently, carbon nanolayer was coated on the NWs using the DC Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition approach. The carbon-coated shell improves the Solid-Electrolyte Interphase stability and alleviates the volume expansion of the anode electrode during charging and discharging. The Sb-doped SnO₂core carbon shell anode showed the superior specific capacity of 585 mAhg^-1after 100 cycles at the current density of 100 mA g^-1, compared to the pure SnO₂NWs electrode. The cycle stability evaluation revealed that the discharge capacity of pure SnO₂NWs and Sb doped SnO₂NWs electrodes were dropped to 52 and 152 mAh g^-1after100th cycles. The process of Sb doping and carbon nano shielding of SnO₂nanostructures is proposed for noticeable improvement of the anode performance for SnO₂based materials.