Highly conductive coaxial SnO(2)-In(2)O(3) heterostructured nanowires for Li ion battery electrodes.

Novel SnO(2)-In(2)O(3) heterostructured nanowires were produced via a thermal evaporation method, and their possible nucleation/growth mechanism is proposed. We found that the electronic conductivity of the individual SnO(2)-In(2)O(3) nanowires was 2 orders of magnitude better than that of the pure SnO(2) nanowires, due to the formation of Sn-doped In(2)O(3) caused by the incorporation of Sn into the In(2)O(3) lattice during the nucleation and growth of the In(2)O(3) shell nanostructures. This provides the SnO(2)-In(2)O(3) nanowires with an outstanding lithium storage capacity, making them suitable for promising Li ion battery electrodes.