LAUSR

Abstract This paper reported a SnO2/pyrolytic carbon nanosphere (SnO2-PCS), which is prepared via methods of precursor atomization and laser assistance combustion. Combined the advantages of nanocrystalline SnO2 and pyrolytic carbon, samples show enhanced reversibility in sodium storage application. The SnO2-PCS prepared under an optimized condition (at oxygen concentrations of 5 vol%) shows the best electrochemical performance. In details, a high Coulombic efficiency of 67.3% with a discharge capacity of 997 mAh g–1 can be obtained in the first cycle, and then the Coulombic efficiency quickly increase to 98.2% in the third cycle and closed to 100% in further cycles. Meanwhile, samples show a high reversible capacity of 507 mAh g–1 at 50 mA g–1 after 250 cycles and a high rate capacity of 225 mAh g–1 at 1500 mA g–1. Experimental results show that, the performance enhancement can be attribute to the pyrolytic carbon provide a reasonable surface area, enough volume change buffering and a good electric conductivity. This work demonstrated a promising high performance anode for Na-ion batteries, in the meantime, it provided a high efficient pathway to prepared SnO2/pyrolytic carbon nanocomposites through such fast synthesis method.