Sn-Based Alloy Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries: Preparation, Multi-scale Structure, and Performance

Abstract

Developing new advanced anode materials with higher energy density, long life, and improved safety is of great importance for both the large-scale and miniaturized lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Sn-based materials have been widely studied as alternative anode materials for LIBs due to their high theoretical specific capacity and moderate operation potential, which was contributed to the successful launch of Sony's commercial Sn--Co--C anodes in ``Nexelion'' batteries in 2005. However, their capacity and cycle performance should be further improved to meet the requirements of next-generation electrodes for LIBs. Multiphase and multi-scale structure tuning has been demonstrated to benefit to both the capacity and cyclability of Sn-based anodes. Therefore, many works address the design and preparation of various Sn-based multiphase materials (Sn--M alloys, SnO2, Sn--C, etc.) with multi-scaled structures, emphasizing the influences of multiphase and multi-structure (thin film, multilayers, core--shell, porous, nanocomposite, etc.) on lithium storage behaviors especially cycle performance. In addition, to develop method for high-efficiency and large-scale preparation of the multi-scale structured Sn-based anode materials is a key issue for their practical application and is also a focus of the current research. This chapter mainly summarizes the recent research progresses of the Sn-based anode materials with some recent works made in this field by the authors' group.