Temperature dependent diffraction study of the oxidation of Ti3SnxAl1-xC2 and Ti2SnxAl1-xC systems for production of lithium-ion batteries h

To satisfy the always growing request of high performing lithium-ion batteries, the development of high-capacity anode is mandatory. Metal oxides are good candidates to replace graphite, currently exploited as anode as they can offer high capacity, but they suffer from low mechanical stability upon cycling. An effective strategy is to design nanostructured oxides starting directly from the oxidation of a precursor. Here we propose to consider Ti3SnxAl1-xC2 and Ti2SnxAl1-xC (x=0.4 and 0.7) MAX-phases as starting material to prepare nanostructured oxides showing tempting electrochemical performance. The final properties depend on the mass ratio between oxides and the remaining MAX-phase, and this depends on the oxidation temperature and kinetic. We propose an in-situ temperature powder diffraction experiment at the ID22 to study the phase evolution during the oxidation process with the aim of optimizing the process, and thus the final electrochemical properties.