Facile approach to prepare porous CaSnO₃ nanotubes via a single spinneret electrospinning technique as anodes for lithium ion batteries

CaSnO₃ nanotubes are successfully prepared by a single spinneret electrospinning technique. The characterized results indicate that the well-crystallized one-dimensional (1D) CaSnO₃ nanostructures consist of about 10 nm nanocrystals, which interconnect to form nanofibers, nanotubes, and ruptured nanobelts after calcination. The diameter and wall thickness of CaSnO₃ nanotubes are about 180 and 40 nm, respectively. It is demonstrated that CaSnO₃ nanofiber, nanotubes, and ruptured nanobelts can be obtained by adjusting the calcination temperature in the range of 600-800 °C. The effect of calcination temperature on the morphologies of electrospun 1D CaSnO₃ nanostructures and the formation mechanism leading to 1D CaSnO₃ nanostructures are investigated. As anodes for lithium ion batteries, CaSnO₃ nanotubes exhibit superior electrochemical performance and deliver 1168 mAh g^-1 of initial discharge capacity and 565 mAh g^-1 of discharge capacity up to the 50th cycle, which is ascribed to the hollow interior structure of 1D CaSnO ₃ nanotubes. Such porous nanotubular structure provides both buffer spaces for volume change during charging/discharging and rapid lithium ion transport, resulting in excellent electrochemical performance.