On the effect of the carbonaceous substrate in the nucleation of Sn nanoparticles for Li-ion anodes: experiments and first principles calculations

Abstract

The nucleation of Sn nanoparticles by chemical reduction was studied using three different carbonaceous substrates, to obtain Sn/C composites. When used as active materials in anodes for lithium-ion batteries, these composites displayed higher capacities than commercially used graphite, and showed a good cyclability. The differences in morphology, capacity, cyclability, and diffusion between the resulting materials are highlighted. The resulting materials were characterized by charge-discharge cycling, voltammetry, EIS, SEM, and TEM microscopy. It was found that the substrate has a determinant effect on the deposition of Sn. This effect is interpreted in terms of the relative adsorption energies of a single Sn atom obtained from DFT calculations.