Facile synthesis and Li-storage performance of SnO nanoparticles and microcrystals

Nano- and micron-sized SnO samples are prepared by simple chemical methods and their lithium cycling behavior is investigated and compared. SnO microcrystals with stacked mesh like morphology are prepared from SnF2 by an aqueous solution synthetic route. SnO nanoparticle-aggregates are prepared from SnCl2, Na2CO3 and NaCl by high energy ball milling. The compounds are characterized by X-ray diffraction, SEM and HRTEM techniques. Galvanostatic cycling studies at a current density of 50 mA g(-1) in the voltage range 0.005-0.8 V vs. Li, showed that the micro-SnO has an initial reversible capacity of 790 mA h g(-1) with capacity retention of 43% between 5-50 cycles. Under similar cycling conditions, nano-SnO showed a reversible discharge capacity of 738 mA h g(-1) with much better capacity retention of 77% between 5-50 cycles. High energy ball milling technique can be adopted for the large scale synthesis of SnO nanoparticles which show novel electrochemical performance as anode material.