Controlled growth of SnO₂@Fe₂O₃ double-sided nanocombs as anodes for lithium-ion batteries

A novel heterostructure is developed by grafting 1D SnO(2) nanorods onto both sides of pre-grown 2D Fe(2)O(3) nanoflakes, forming a comb-like rather than tree-like branched nanostructure. The SnO(2) nanorod branches are determined to grow along the [001] direction on the (±001) planes of Fe(2)O(3) nanoflakes. The resulting SnO(2)@Fe(2)O(3) nanocombs show stabilized cycling performance and improved volumetric energy density compared to pristine Fe(2)O(3) nanoflakes presumably due to the integration of SnO(2) branches as well as the 3D hierarchical structural features.