Morphology effect on the performances of SnO₂ nanorod arrays as anodes for Li-ion batteries

Ni foam suppported-SnO₂ nanorod arrays with controllable diameter were prepared via a template-free growth method, which was a convenient route for the large-scale growth of pure-phase metal oxide nanorod arrays on metal substrates. The relationship between electrochemical behavior and the shape of SnO₂ nanorod arrays has been investigated in detail. SnO₂ nanorod arrays with diameter of about 25nm, as anode materials for Li-ion batteries revealed a capacity of 607mAh g⁻¹ (at 0.2 C) up to 50 cycles. The superior performance of the SnO₂ nanorods can be mainly attributed to small size of nanorods which reduce volume expansion and lithium diffusion length.