Tin Oxide-Carbon-Coated Sepiolite Nanofibers with Enhanced Lithium-Ion Storage Property

Abstract

Natural sepiolite (Sep) nanofibers were coated with carbon and nanoscale SnO2 to prepare an emerging nanocomposite (SnO2–C@Sep), which exhibited enhanced electrochemical performance. Sepiolite could act as a steady skeleton, carbon coating principally led sepiolite from an isolated to an electric state, and decoration of nanoscale SnO2 was beneficial to the functionization of sepiolite. Cycling performances indicated that SnO2–C@Sep showed higher discharge capacities than commercial SnO2 after 50 cycles. The nanocomposite SnO2–C@Sep possessed enhanced lithium storage properties with stable capacity retention and low cost, which could open up a new strategy to synthesize a variety of functional hybrid materials based on the cheap and abundant clay and commercialization of lithium-metal oxide batteries.