Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2011
The carbon anode presently used in commercial lithium ion batteries has a relatively low capacity and may pose safety problems particularly under fast charging. Nanosized amorphous materials have excellent electrochemical behavior when applied as anodes for lithium ion batteries; especially they have advantages over bulk materials on capacity retention and rate capability. The initial studies on some amorphous compounds are promising. A commercialized tin-cobalt-carbon amorphous material, which is composed of ∼5nm nanoparticles, shows a capacity retention of >350 mAh/g for 50+ cycles. Manganese oxide nanofibers were synthesized by polymer templated electrospinning followed by calcinations. The fibers have 200-500 nm diameter and the main composition is Mn3O4. The capacity remains 400 mAh/g for at least 50 cycles.