Fabrication of hollow TiO 2 nanospheres for high-capacity and long-life lithium storage

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is of great interest as anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of its safety, structure stability, and low cost. However, the limitations of low conductivity and small theoretical capacity prevent its further applications. Herein, TiO 2 nanospheres with a hollow structure (H-TiO 2 ) were successfully synthesized via a hard-template method. The resultant material used as LIBs anode with superior lithium storage properties in terms of high initial capacity (∼289 mA h g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 ), good rate capability (∼101 mA h g −1 at 2 A g −1 ), and excellent cycling stability (∼196 mA h g −1 was retained over 300 cycles at 0.1 A g −1 ). The improved performances are attributed to the large specific area (~225 m 2 g −1 ) and abundant mesoporous of the hollow structure, which can not only promote the diffusion of Li + and e − but also achieve an increase in the contact area between electrodes and electrolyte.