Yolk-Shell TiO2@C Nanocomposite as High-Performance Anode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Shen Qiu; Lifen Xiao; Xinping Ai; Hanxi Yang; Yuliang Cao

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b12001

Yolk-Shell TiO₂@C Nanocomposite as High-Performance Anode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Jan 11;9(1):345-353. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b12001. Epub 2016 Dec 30.

Authors

Shen Qiu¹, Lifen Xiao², Xinping Ai¹, Hanxi Yang¹, Yuliang Cao¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Power Sources, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
² College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , Wuhan 430079, P. R. China.

PMID: 27959498
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b12001

Abstract

Yolk-shell TiO₂@C nanocomposites have been synthesized successfully through a simple self-catalyzing solvothermal method. The structural and morphological characterizations reveal that TiO₂@C nanocomposite has a yolk-shell microsphere morphology with diameters of 1-2 μm, and both yolk and shell are composed of TiO₂ nanoparticles (∼10 nm). The as-prepared yolk-shell TiO₂@C composites exhibit superior sodium storage properties, with a specific capacity of 210 mAh g^-1, an outstanding cycle life of 85% capacity retention of 2000 cycles and extraordinary rate performance at 40 C rate. All the results indicate that the yolk-shell TiO₂@C nanocomposite can be suggested as a promising anode material for high-performance sodium-ion batteries.

Keywords: Na-ion batteries; TiO2@C; self-catalyzed reaction; solvothermal synthesis; yolk−shell nanostructure.