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Selective Formation of Carbon‐Coated, Metastable Amorphous ZnSnO 3 Nanocubes Containing Mesopores for Use as High‐Capacity Lithium‐Ion Battery
Author(s) -
Han Fei,
Li WenCui,
Lei Cheng,
He Bin,
Oshida Kyoichi,
Lu AnHui
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201400371
Subject(s) - materials science , amorphous solid , chemical engineering , mesoporous material , carbon fibers , amorphous carbon , lithium (medication) , nanostructure , dispersity , electrochemistry , nanoparticle , lithium ion battery , nanotechnology , battery (electricity) , electrode , catalysis , organic chemistry , composite material , polymer chemistry , composite number , medicine , chemistry , engineering , endocrinology , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
Mesoporous and amorphous ZnSnO 3 nanocubes of ∼37 nm size coated with a thin porous carbon layer have been prepared using monodisperse ZnSn(OH) 6 as the active precursor and low‐temperature synthesized polydopamine as the carbon precursor. The small single nanocubes cross‐link with each other to form a continuous conductive framework and interconnected porous channels with macropores of 74 nm width. Because of its multi‐featured nanostructure, this material exhibits greatly enhanced integration of reversible alloying/de‐alloying (i.e., transformation of Li 4.4 Sn and LiZn to Sn and Zn) and conversion (i.e., oxidation of Sn and Zn to ZnSnO 3 ) reaction processes with an extremely high capacity of 1060 mA h g −1 for up to 100 cycles. A high reversible capacity of 650 and 380 mA h g −1 can also be delivered at rates of 2 and 3 A g −1 , respectively. This excellent electrochemical performance is attributed to the small particle size, well‐developed mesoporosity, the amorphous nature of the ZnSnO 3 and the continuous conductive framework produced by the interconnected carbon layers.