Studies of the electrochemical performance of Sn–Sb alloy prepared by solid-state reduction

The effects of particle size, chemical composition and cycling potential range on the electrochemical properties of micro-sized Sn–Sb electrodes were investigated in terms of initial irreversible capacity, rate-capability and cycling stability. Large particle sized SnSb electrode shows a low initial irreversible capacity and a relatively good cyclic performance when charged/discharged at 100 mAh g−1 due to the low specific surface area and loose structural characteristics of SnSb particles. When charged and discharged at high current density, large particle sized SnSb electrode displays a fast capacity fading compared to the small sized one due to the long diffusion distance of Li-ions. The Sn/Sb ratio has effect on the cycling stability of electrodes. Sn-riched and Sb-riched Sn–Sb electrodes exhibit fast capacity decline while sample with pure SnSb intermetallic phase shows a relatively good cycling stability. To increase the lower limit of cycling potential range cannot improve the cyclic performance while to decrease the upper limit to 0.8 V can control the cycling stability of SnSb electrode significantly. The Sb component is considered to be the main cause of the capacity fading of Sn–Sb electrode.