Aerosol-Assisted Synthesis of Spherical Sb/C Composites as Advanced Anodes for Lithium Ion and Sodium Ion Batteries

Metallic antimony (Sb) has been considered to be one of the most promising anode materials for both lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. However, Sb anode still suffers from the issues of poor conductivity and large volume expansion during charge–discharge process, which severely limited its applications. Herein, Sb/C composite is designed and fabricated with the assistance of aerosol spray technique and subsequent pyrolysis. Nanosized Sb particles are uniformly dispersed in the carbon matrix, suggesting improved conductivity and robust structure. A high initial specific capacity of 641 mAh g–1 is achieved at a current density of 100 mA g–1 and 502 mAh g–1 is remained after 150 cycles in sodium batteries. When used as anodes for lithium batteries, Sb/C exhibits an initial capacity of 917 and 590 mAh g–1 is remained after 80 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g–1. Such excellent electrochemical performance of Sb/C can be attributed to the elaborately organized nanostructure, which can effectively accommodate the volume change and suppress the aggregation of Sb nanoparticles during cycling for batteries application.