Due to the adequate viscosity of the chitosan-added precursor solutions, the films deposited from the chitosan-added precursor solution showed a higher deposition rate than the ones from the PVP-added solution under the same coating parameters. Furthermore, the chitosan-added precursor solution remained stable without any precipitation for at least 10 months. On the other hand, without the addition of chitosan, the precursor solution showed apparent precipitation after being stirred for 12 h. The enhanced stability of the precursor solution by the addition of chitosan is attributed to the complexation between metal ions and the -NH2 groups of chitosan. And the electrochemical behavior for the deposited films calcined at 700 degrees C for 1 h was also characterized by charge-discharge test. The result revealed that the film deposited from chitosan-containing precursor solution possesses an initial discharge capacity of 134 mAh g(-1) and about 9% capacity loss after 50 charge/discharge cycles, which is better than the one deposited from chitosan-free precursor solution with an initial discharge capacity of 108 mAh g(-1) and 24% capacity loss after 50 cycles. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.