Controlled thermal sintering of metal/metal oxide/carbon ternary composite with a multi-scale hollow nanostructure for anode material of Li-ion batteries

Abstract: We report a synthetic scheme for preparing a SnO2/Sn/carbon triad inverse opal porous material using the controlled sintering of Sn precursor-infiltrated polystyrene (PS) nanobead films. Because the uniform PS nanobead film, which can be converted into carbon via a sintering step, uptakes the precursor solution, the carbon can be uniformly distributed throughout the Sn-based anode material. Moreover, the partial carbonization of the PS nanobeads under a controlled Ar/oxygen environment not only produces a composite material with an inverse opal-like porous nanostructure but also converts the Sn precursor/PS into a SnO2/Sn/C triad electrode.