Sucrose assisted hydrothermal synthesis of SnO₂/graphene nanocomposites with improved lithium storage properties

Abstract

SnO₂/graphene nanocomposites are synthesized by a new hydrothermal treatment strategy under the assistance of sucrose. From the images of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM), it can be observed that SnO₂ nanoparticles with the size of 4~5 nm uniformly distribute on the graphene nanosheets. The result demonstrates that sucrose can effectively prevent graphene nanosheets from restacking during hydrothermal treatment and subsequently treatment. The charging/discharging test result indicates that the SnO₂/graphene nanocomposites exhibit high specific capacity and excellent cycleability. The first reversible specific capacity is 729 mAh.g⁻¹ at the current density of 50 mA.g⁻¹, and remains 646 mAh.g⁻¹ after 30 cycles at the current density of 100 mA.g⁻¹, 30 cycles at the current density of 200 mA.g⁻¹, 30 cycles at the current density of 400 mA.g⁻¹, 30 cycles at the current density of 800 mA.g⁻¹, and 30 cycles at the current density of 50 mA.g⁻¹.