Synthesis of a Sn–In mixed oxide/graphene hybrid as an electrode material with improved Li-storage properties

Mixing of aqueous suspensions of indium chloride, tin chloride and graphene oxide leads to the instantaneous precipitation of a hybrid material followed by the calcination under inert atmosphere at 450 °C results in Sn–In mixed oxide nanoparticles deposited on graphene sheets. This hybrid material is characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The Sn–In mixed oxide nanoparticles with the diameter of ∼10 nm are uniformly attached onto the surface of graphene. The Sn–In mixed oxide/graphene (Sn–In/G) hybrids exhibit superior Li-storage properties over graphene and bare Sn–In mixed oxide, and the optimum molar ratio of Sn–In mixed oxide/graphene is 1:1. With the Sn–In mixed oxide/graphene mass ratio of 1:1, the hybrid exhibits high cyclic stability and capacity retention, where 708 mA h g−1 and 570 mA h g−1 could still be obtained after 10 and 30 cycles, indicating potential application in electrode materials for lithium ion batteries.