Reactive molten salt synthesis of natural graphite flakes decorated with SnO2 nanorods as high performance, low cost anode material for lithium ion batteries

The fabrication of hybrid materials , such as SnO 2 -C, applicable in advanced energy storage systems, often suffers from lack of simplicity, scalability, cost effectiveness and/or sustainability. Therefore, the development of simpler and more efficient technologies for the sustainable production of energy materials with decent performance is highly desirable. In the current investigation, a hybrid nanostructured powder comprising of natural graphite flakes decorated with SnO 2 single crystalline nanorods (NG-SnO 2 ) was synthesized by a facile, rapid and cost effective one-step molten salt method, and characterized by a variety of techniques including X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy , thermal analysis and electron microscopy . A perfect connection was identified between SnO 2 nanorods and few-layers graphite on the surface of flakes. This hybrid material exhibited an excellent electrochemical performance as the anode material for Li-ion batteries, delivering a reversible capacity of 495 mAhg −1 after 500 cycles. The few-layered graphite substrate could successfully promote the electron transfer kinetics and also buffers the mechanical stress caused by the lithiation-delithiation of perfectly attached SnO 2 nanorods during the battery cycling. The molten salt process discussed here provides a cost-effective and scalable strategy for rapid preparation of the hybrid nanostructured anode material, utilizing the low cost and abundant natural graphite.