A facile route to synthesize hollow Si-Ni₃Sn₂nanospheres@ reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for high performance lithium-ion batteries

In this paper, we report the original synthesis of hollow Si-Ni₃Sn₂@ graphene composite and its high reversible capacity as lithium-ion battery anodes. To build the new architecture, three strategies of hollow architectures, porous surface and specific composition of graphene are attempted to develop lithium storage with far greater energy density and outstand rate performance. The results show that as-designed hollow Si-Ni₃Sn₂@graphene composites exhibit outstanding reversible capacity of 855.7 mAh g⁻¹during the first cycle, and 576.6 mAh g⁻¹can be maintained during a cycling test of 50 cycles at 300 mA g⁻¹. The rate capability is also enhanced, delivering reversible capacity of 449.8, 420.4, 392.7 and 377.1 mAh g⁻¹at current densities of 600, 800, 1200 and 1800 mA h g⁻¹, thus exhibiting great potential as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries.