Metal Oxide and Sulfide Hollow Spheres: Layer-By-Layer Synthesis and Their Application in Lithium-Ion Battery

Abstract

A novel layer-by-layer approach has been developed to synthesize polycrystalline SnO(2) hollow spheres with tunable shell thickness and size using SiO(2) spheres as a template. The surface of the SiO(2) spheres has been first modified by the polyelectrolyte, and subsequently, the compact SnO(2) layer has deposited on the surface of the SiO(2) spheres through a redox reaction because of the electrostatic attraction between the charged species. After HF etching treatment, the uniform SnO(2) hollow spheres have been obtained. The approach presented herein has been extended to synthesize other metal oxide and sulfide hollow spheres such as In(2)O(3) and ZnS. Moreover, the as-synthesized SnO(2) hollow spheres have been applied in lithium-ion battery and show improved performance compared with SnO(2) nanoparticles. The high surface area and stable hollow structure of the SnO(2) hollow spheres may be responsible for the improved performance.

Size-controlled synthesis and magnetic properties of NiFe2O4 hollow nanospheres via a gel-assistant hydrothermal route

“…Xue et al reported the synthesis of hollow doughnut-shaped and spherical CuO structures via thermal oxidation of the corresponding CuS and Cu 2 S precursors, respectively [9]. Yang's group reported layer-by-layer synthesis of polycrystalline SnO 2 hollow spheres using SiO 2 spheres as a template [10]. Xue et al studied the synthesis of hollow ZnO micro- * Corresponding author.…”

Template-based syntheses for shape controlled nanostructures

“…For the formation of hollow nanoparticles, PS nanoparticles as seen with templating hollow MSNs, are also used in conjunction with LbL to produce hollow nanoparticles of titania, silica, or laponite (synthetic clay [Na 0.7 (Si 8 Mg 5.5 Li 0.3 )O 20 (OH) 4 ]) with PDDA/PAH/PSS polyelectrolytes used as the alternating layers [343]. Silica nanoparticles also serve a similar role to PS and can be used with polyelectrolyte/metal oxide LbL techniques [344].…”

Carbon-supported SnO2 nanowire arrays with enhanced lithium storage properties

“…Another effective way to improve the stability of SnO 2 based anode materials is to design nanostructured SnO 2 with unique morphologies, which can provide higher electrode/electrolyte contact area, shorter diffusion length of Li + , and better withstanding of the huge volume change, thus leading to improved lithium storage properties [28][29][30]. In the past decade, various nanostructured SnO 2 , including nanorods [31], nanowires [7,29,[32][33][34], nanotubes [35][36][37][38][39][40][41], nanosheets [30,[42][43][44], and hollow nanospheres [3,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51], have been successfully synthesized and widely studied as anode materials, thus obtained improved electrochemical performance.…”