Facile synthesized Cu-SnO2 anode materials with three-dimensional metal cluster conducting architecture for high performance lithium-ion batteries

Metal oxide anode material is one of promising candidates for the next-generation LIBs, due to its high theoretical capacity and low cost. The poor conductivity and huge volume change during charge/ discharge, however, restrict the commercialization of metal oxide anode material. In this work, we design a novel Cu-SnO2 composite derived from Cu6Sn5 alloy with three dimensional （3D） metal cluster conducting architecture. The novel Cu structure penetrates in the composite particles inducing high conductivity and space-confined SnO2, which restrict the pulverization of SnO2 during lithiation/ delithiation process. The optimized Cu-SnO2 composite anode delivers an initial discharge capacity of 933.7 mA h/g and retains a capacity of 536.1 mA h/g after 200 cycles, at 25℃ and a rate of 100 mA/g. Even at the high rate of 300 mA/g, the anode still exhibits a capacity of more than 29% of that tested at 50 mA/g. Combining with the phase and morphology analysis, the novel Cu-SnO2 composite not only has good electrical conductivity, but also possesses high theoretical capacity （995 mAh/g）, which may pave a new way for the design and construction of next-generation metal oxide anode materials with high power and cycling stability.