Binder strategy towards improving the rate performance of nanosheet-assembled SnO ₂ hollow microspheres

How to improve SnO ₂-based anode lithium-storage performance at high rate is a very important issue. Herein, a binder strategy on improving the high rate performance of SnO ₂ has been proposed. First of all, well-designed nanosheet-assembled SnO ₂ hollow microspheres were synthesized via a facile template-free hydrothermal route and then Na-alginate as a binder, instead of the commonly used polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), was first used with the SnO ₂ hollow microspheres as an anode material for Li ion batteries. The result shows that the SnO ₂ hollow microspheres exhibited a remarkable capacity of 690 and 570 mA h g ^-1 after 50 cycles at a rate of 1 and 2 C, respectively, which is much better than those of other cases, such as the SnO ₂ hollow microspheres with PVDF as a binder and SnO ₂ nanoparticles with Na-alginate. This work demonstrates that the binder strategy indeed is an effective means to improve cycling performance and rate capability for high-capacity electrode materials with large volume variations.