Synthesis of PAN/SnCl2 composite as Li-ion battery anode material

A novel process was proposed to synthesize the pyrolytic polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/SnCl₂ composite anode material for Li-ion batteries. The preparation started with the dissolution of PAN and SnCl₂ in dimethylformamide (DMF), followed by drying of the solution and pyrolysis of the dried mixture of PAN and SnCl₂ at 300 °C, leading to homogenous dispersal of SnCl₂ in pyrolytic PAN, which becomes conducting polymer matrix. The composite presented stable cycling capacity of about 490 mAh/g. It is demonstrated that SnCl₂, which has been considered to be an inactive electrode material, can become active by the proposed composite technique. This paves the promising way to prepare electrode materials for Li-ion batteries.