Synthesis and Electrochemical Reaction of Tin Oxalate-Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite Anode for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Unlike for SnO 2, few studies have reported on the use of SnC 2 O 4 as an anode material for rechargeable lithium batteries. Here, we first introduce a SnC 2 O 4 -reduced graphene oxide composite produced via hydrothermal reactions followed by a layer-by-layer self-assembly process. The addition of rGO increased the electric conductivity up to ∼10 –3 S cm –1 . As a result, the SnC 2 O 4 -reduced graphene oxide electrode exhibited a high charge (oxidation) capacity of ∼1166 mAh g –1 at a current of 100 mA g –1 (0.1 C-rate) with a good retention delivering approximately 620 mAh g –1 at the 200th cycle. Even at a rate of 10 C (10 A g –1 ), the composite electrode was able to obtain a charge capacity of 467 mAh g –1 . In contrast, the bare SnC 2 O 4 had inferior electrochemical properties relative to those of the SnC 2 O 4 -reduced graphene oxide composite: ∼643 mAh g –1 at the first charge, retaining 192 mAh g –1 at the 200th cycle and 289 mAh g –1 at 10 C. This improvement in electrochemical properties is most likely due to the improvement in electric conductivity, which enables facile electron transfer via simultaneous conversion above 0.75 V and de/alloy reactions below 0.75 V: SnC 2 O 4 + 2Li + + 2e – → Sn + Li 2 C 2 O 4 + x Li + + x e – → Li x Sn on discharge (reduction) and vice versa on charge. This was confirmed by systematic studies of ex situ X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectroscopy.