Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology

, Volume 76, Issue 2, pp 402–413 | Cite as

Low-temperature surfactant-free synthesis of tin oxide-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites and their textural property-dependent lithium storage characteristics

Original Paper
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Abstract

Tin oxide-graphene composite has emerged as a promising material for numerous applications such as energy storage. In the present work, we report one-pot low-temperature (95 °C) surfactant-free synthesis of tin oxide-reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites by varying graphene oxide (GO) to tin (II) 2-ethylhexanoate weight ratio (R = 0.00, 0.02, 0.06, 0.12). X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy measurements confirm the existence of nanocrystalline tetragonal SnO2 (size, ~3.0 nm), decorated on rGO sheets. Also, FTIR spectral study of the samples is performed to understand the chemical bond vibrations in the nanocomposites. Relative structural defects in rGO of nanocomposites are analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. The chemical reactions possibly proceed via oxidation of Sn2+ used as tin precursor, forming SnO2 with the simultaneous reduction of GO to rGO. Multipoint BET nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm analysis shows that the specific surface area increases with R value but external surface area related to mesoporosity (pore diameter, ~3 nm) initially increases, reaches a maximum at R = 0.06 and then decreases for further increase in the R in the samples. On increasing R value, the trend of change of 1st cycle Coulombic efficiency is found to be identical with the change of external surface area of the samples. At R = 0.06, the sample demonstrates a reversible lithium storage capacity of 626 mAhg−1 (80 % of theoretical capacity) with good cyclability, signifying the positive effect on the structural defects and also in the textural property of the materials. This study can be adopted for other metal oxide semiconductor–rGO nanocomposites for energy storage application.

Graphical Abstract

SnO2–rGO nanocomposites for improved lithium storage characteristics

Keywords

Soft chemical synthesis Tin oxide-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite Textural property Structural defects in graphene Lithium storage characteristics 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Authors wish to acknowledge the Director, CSIR-CGCRI, for his kind permission to publish this work. Among the authors, SB and MP thank Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and UGC, Govt. of India for providing their research fellowships. Authors also acknowledge the help rendered by Nanostructured Materials Division and Electron Microscopy Section for Raman and microstructural characterizations, respectively. The work has been done as an associated research work of 12th 5-Year Plan project of CSIR (No. ESC0202).

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Sol–Gel DivisionCSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research InstituteKolkataIndia
  2. 2.Fuel Cell and Battery DivisionCSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research InstituteKolkataIndia

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