NiM (Sb, Sn)/N-doped hollow carbon tube as high-rate and high-capacity anode for lithium-ion batteries

作者：Weng, Chaocang; Huang, Sumei^*; Lu, Ting; Li, Junfeng^*; Li, Jinliang; Li, Jiabao; Pan, Likun^*

来源：Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2023, 652: 208-217.

DOI：10.1016/j.jcis.2023.08.086

• Alloy materials
• Hollow N -doped carbon tubes
• Lithium-ion battery
• Anode
• Diffusion contribution

Alloy-type materials are regarded as prospective anode replacements for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their attractive theoretical capacity. However, the drastic volume expansion leads to structural collapse and pulverization, resulting in rapid capacity decay during cycling. Here, a simple and scalable approach to prepare NiM (M: Sb, Sn)/nitrogen-doped hollow carbon tubes (NiM-C) via template and substitution reactions is proposed. The nanosized NiM particles are uniformly anchored in the robust hollow N-doped carbon tubes via Ni-N-C coordination bonds, which not only provides a buffer for volume expansion but also avoids agglomerating of the reactive material and ensures the integrity of the conductive network and structural framework during lithiation/delithiation. As a result, NiSb-C and NiSn-C exhibit high reversible capacities (1259 and 1342 mAh/g after 100 cycles at 0.1 A/g) and fascinating rate performance (627 and 721 mAh/g at 2 A/g), respectively, when employed as anodes of LIBs. The electrochemical kinetic analysis reveals that the dominant lithium storage behavior of NiM-C electrodes varies from capacitive contribution to diffusion contribution during the cycling corresponding to the activation of the electrode exposing more NiM sites. Meanwhile, M (Sb, Sn) is gradually transformed into stable NiM during the de-lithium process, making the NiM-C structure more stable and reversible in the electrochemical reaction. This work brings a novel thought to construct highperformance alloy-based anode materials.