journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nanoenergy Available online at www.sciencedirect.com COMMUNICATION High rate SnO 2 –Graphene Dual Aerogel anodes and their kinetics of lithiation and Q2 sodiation Zhi Li a , Jia Ding a , Huanlei Wang a , Kai Cui b , Tyler Stephenson a , Dimitre Karpuzov c , David Mitlin d Q1 a Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada T6G 2V4 b National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT), National Research Council of Canada, Edmonton, Alta., Canada T6G 2M9 c Alberta Center for Surface Engineering and Science (ACSES), University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada T6G 2G6 d Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, 8 Clarkson Avenue, Potsdam, NY 13699, USA Received 23 January 2015; received in revised form 21 April 2015; accepted 22 April 2015 KEYWORDS Lithium ion; Sodium ion; Battery; Capacitor; Graphene; Aerogel; Tin oxide Abstract We Q3 created a unique SnO 2 –Graphene Dual Aerogel (SnO 2 /GDA) nanocomposite with exquisite lithium and sodium ion battery anode performance (LIB, NIB NAB SIB). In parallel we employed electrochemical methods to be the first to analyze the transition from kinetic control to diffusion control for the conversion reaction (SnO 2 + 4Li + + 4e  2Sn + 2Li 2 O) vs. for the alloying reaction (Sn + xLi + + xe  2Li x Sn, x r4.4). The material displays a high reversible capacity (1299 mA h g 1 for Li at 0.1 A g 1 , 448 mA h g 1 for Na at 0.05 A g 1 ), very good cycling life (148% after 450 cycles for Li, 82% from 20 to 200 cycles for Na), and superb rate capacity retention (450 mA h g 1 for Li at 25 A g 1 , 184 mA h g 1 for Na at 1 Ag 1 ). In fact, these rate capabilities are among the most favorable reported in literature for each system. & 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Introduction Na-ion batteries (SIBs, NIBs, NABs) are attracting interest as a potentially lower cost alternative to lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with readily available and geographically democratic reserves of the metal [1,2]. Unfortunately in their current state SIB anode materials do not perform as well as state-of- the-art LIB anodes [3–6], with a major effort being expanded to both create new SIB electrode materials and improve the existing options [7]. Anode materials based on alloying reactions, such as Sn, exhibit much larger Li(Na) storage 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 53 55 57 59 61 63 65 67 69 71 73 75 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.04.018 2211-2855/& 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. E-mail addresses: huanleiwang@gmail.com (H. Wang), dmitlin@clarkson.edu (D. Mitlin). Nano Energy (]]]]) ], ]]]–]]] Please cite this article as: Z. Li, et al., High rate SnO 2 –Graphene Dual Aerogel anodes and their kinetics of lithiation and sodiation, Nano Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.04.018