Abstract: Anode materials in many commercial lithium-ion batteries are composed of graphite. In fact, theoretical capacities of SnO2 are far greater than that of graphite. But it also results in a large initial irreversible capacity and a poor capacity retention due to the volume expansion/contraction of Sn during alloying/dealloying reactions with Li+. MWCNTs not only have a higher capacity than graphite, but also they can be used as a support matrix forming novel metal/MWCNT composites which can take advantage of the higher capacity of metals and prevent the problem of pulverization too. In this work, SnO2 /MWCNTs nanocomposites were fabricated by chemical deposition method.SnO2 nanoparticles can be deposited on the outside and inner surfaces of the MWCNTs. It was proved that the content and inner diameter of MWCNTs in the nanocomposite electrodes indeed played a dominant role in improving the reversible capacity and cycling stability of lithium-ion batteries.

Key words: tin oxide, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, functionalization, lithium ion batteries