Study on the superior lithium storage performance of carbon/Sn–Mo oxide composite as lithium-ion battery anode

A facile generic solvothermal strategy is employed to prepare C/SnO x /MoO y composite with evenly distributed C, Sn, Mo and O elements. The multi-element characteristic of active components and the introduction of carbon phase contribute greatly to the improved electrochemical performance as LIBs anodes. The influence of carbon phase and content of Sn and Mo on electrochemical behavior were investigated in this work. Carbon phase contributes greatly to the enhanced electric conductivity, structural integrity and pseudocapacitance contribution of the electrode. The best electrochemical performance is achieved in carbon/Sn–Mo oxide anode with a Sn/Mo ratio of about 1:1, indicating the mutual buffering relationship between Sn and Mo due to the different working voltage toward lithium. As a result, an excellent capacity retention of 98% (vs 2nd cycle) is delivered after 500 cycles at 0.5 A g −1 . Even at a high rate of 2.0 A g −1 , the capacity could be well remained after 500 cycles. Moreover, full cell employing such a C/SnO x /MoO y anode in combination with LiCoO 2 cathode offers a good cycling performance.