Research Seminar Abstract

Commercial industries currently utilize graphite as the primary lithium anode material for secondary batteries. Graphite’s gravimetric capacity, however, has already been fully utilized and materials with higher capacities are more desirable for the advancement of next generation applications, such as electric vehicles. Of these materials, intermetallic alloys such as SnSb are of interest due to their ability to store multiple alkali metals per metal center, resulting in higher gravimetric and volumetric capacities. Electrodeposition is a promising method to produce these alloy anodes, as it can control the particle morphology, size, thickness, composition, and is easily scalable to larger productions. In this talk, we will present the first successful synthesis of pure SnSb by electrodeposition. The synthesis and products were carefully analyzed through a variety of techniques to better understand conditions that must be controlled in order to produce the pure SnSb. Electrochemical testing of the electrodeposited SnSb samples showed promising performance of the material, with long cycle life and high rate capabilities as both lithium- and sodium- ion battery anodes. It is also found that purity of the electrodeposited material has an evident impact on the electrochemical performance of the electrode, in which control of the purity is important to the material’s cycling lifetime.