However, incorporating tin, which can store more energy, has historically been tricky because it tends to swell and degrade during charging.
“The research team addressed this issue using a sol–gel process followed by thermal reduction, successfully embedding uniformly distributed sub-10 nm tin nanoparticles within the hard carbon matrix,” added POSTECH in a press release.
This prevents damaging swelling and also creates a synergistic effect where the tin enhances the hard carbon’s performance and contributes extra energy storage capacity through chemical reactions.