We report herewith the preparation of SnO₂ nanotubes with very good shape and size control, and with and without a carbon nanotube overlayer, The SnO₂-core/carbon-shell nanotubes are excellent reversible Li ion storage compounds combining the best features of carbon (cyclability) and SnO₂ (capacity) to deliver a high specific capacity (~540-600 mAh/g) simultaneous with good cyclability (0.0375% capacity loss per cycle). / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

Three-dimensional (3D) TiO₂–SnO₂–graphene aerogels (TTGs)were built up from the graphene oxide nanosheets supported with both TiO₂ and SnO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) via a facile hydrothermal assembly process. The resulting TTGs exhibit a 3D hierarchical porous architecture with uniform distribution of SnO₂ and TiO₂ NPs on the graphene surface, which not only effectively prevents the agglomeration of SnO₂ NPs, but also facilitates the fast ion/electron transport in 3D pathways. As the anode materials in lithium ion batteries (LIBs), TTGs manifest a high reversible capacity of 750 mA h g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ for 100 cycles. Even at a high current density of 1 A g⁻¹, a reversible capacity of 470mA h g⁻¹ can still be achieved from the TTG based LIB anode over 150 cycles.

A novel 2D hybrid with MoS₂ nanocrystals strongly coupled on nitrogen-enriched graphene (MoS₂/NGg-C₃N₄) is realized by mild temperature pyrolysis (550 °C) of a self-assembled precursor (MoS₃/g-C₃N₄–H⁺/GO). With rich active sites, the boosted electronic conductivity and the coupled structure, MoS₂/NGg₋C₃N₄ achieves superior lithium storage performance.