Enhanced Electrochemical Stability of Sn-Carbon Nanotube Nanocapsules as Lithium-Ion Battery Anode

Buildup of Sn@CNT nanorods by in-situ thermal plasma and the electronic transport behaviors

“…The critical temperature T C is determined as 3.69 K, which is very close to 3.73 K of bulk Sn [23]. It has been demonstrated that a single-crystal Sn superconductor with size less than coherent length has usually no significant suppression at temperature of superconducting transition.…”

“…Existence of SnO x layer about 5-8 nm in thickness predicates higher activity of the tip region of Sn@CNT NRs, which has formed in the passivation process. CNTs outer shell with 2-3 nm in thickness consists of 3-4 graphene layers, verified from the interplanar spacing of 3.56 Å ((0015) lattice planes of graphite) [23]. Although a substantial distortion of CNTs shell appears at the tip region, the integrity of CNTs has been well retained.…”

“…In general, the electronic transport behavior of Sn@CNT NRs prepared by arc-discharge plasma here is characteristic of a transition from electronic hopping conduction to the electron-pair tunneling at 3.69 K, which is quite different from the transition of normal metal to the superconductor [15,21,23]. Above results supply crucial data for novel superconducting nanostructures, and may serve as the key parts of a phase-based switching, sensors and electronic devices, combining the tunable function of semiconductor with the long-range coherence of superconductor.…”

“…The MWCNTs encapsulated Sn nanorods were prepared by a conventional arc-discharge plasma method [23]. Raw target was a bulk metal Sn (99.99% in purity) as the anode, while a carbon rod was used as the cathode.…”

“…After more than 12 h, the nanopowder products were then collected from the water-cooled wall of the work chamber. The nucleation and growth steps for Sn@CNT NRs were discussed in details in our previous publication [23].…”