An electrochemical and structural investigation of porous composite anode materials for LIB

A porous composite anode for lithium ion battery (LIB) was investigated. The composite anode was prepared by electrodepositing Sn?CSb alloy on a template-like electrode and then annealing it in the atmosphere of N₂, whereas the porous template-like electrode was obtained by forming a sponge-like porous membrane on a copper foil via a mixed phase inversion process, followed by pre-plating Cu through membrane pores in it. SEM and XRD results showed that composite structure of the anode consisted of electrodeposited Sn?CSb alloy dispersed in a PAN-pyrolyzed conjugated conducting polymer gridding, which was tightly connected with the Cu foil through transition alloy layer formed by heat treatment. Due to its relatively reasonable microcosmic structure, the composite anode presented better cycling performance and specific capacity retention during charging and discharging at diverse rates. When cycled between 0 and 2.0?V (vs Li/Li⁺) at 0.5?C rate, the reversible charge/discharge capacity of the composite material remained 415 and 414.8?mAh?g^?1, respectively, after 30 cycles, corresponding to 82.9% of the capacity retention. When charging and discharging at 2?C rate, the composite material electrode showed 71.7% capacity retention at the 30th cycle.