Binding SnO2 nanoparticles onto carbon nanotubes with assistance of amorphous MoO3 towards enhanced lithium storage performance.

We report the synthesis of a novel SnO2/MoO3/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hybrid (denote as SMC) via hydrothermally treating aqueous SnCl4-Na2MoO4-CNTs suspension. The hydrolysis of SnCl4 promotes the precipitation of Na2MoO4, resulting in the simultaneous coprecipitation of the amorphous MoO3 and SnO2 nanoparticles which attach onto the CNTs (Note that no MoOx is produced in the absence of SnCl4). When used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the as-prepared SMC hybrid delivers a high reversible capacities of 1032 and 887mAh/g after 50 cycles at current densities of 200 and 500mA/g, respectively, and still retains a reversible capacity of 496mAh/g even after 200 cycles at a higher rate of 2A/g, which shows much better lithium storage performance than that of the counterpart hybrid of SnO2/CNTs (denote as SC, with only 569mAh/g after 50 cycles at 200mA/g). The enhanced electrochemical performance of SMC can be attributed to a synergistic effect, namely, MoO3 not only confines SnO2 nanoparticles onto the CNTs but also brings additional lithium storage capacity, while the flexible conductive CNT networks facilitate the charge transfer and electrolyte diffusion.