Lithium Storage Properties of Coaxial ITO-TiO₂ Nanotube Composites

TiO2 anode has received wide attention because of its good structural stability and safety during the charging and discharging of lithium-ion battery. However, the inherent poor conductivity of TiO2 limits its capacity and cycling stability at high current densities. In this paper, coaxial indium tin oxide-TiO2 nanotube complexes (ITO-TiO2NTs) were prepared by vacuum mechanical press injection method and subsequent annealing treatment. As an anode material for Li-ion batteries, ITO-TiO2NTs exhibit a high capacity of 295.9 mAh center dot g(-1) after 350 cycles with the current density of 0.2 A center dot g(-1). The ITO acts as a conductive core in the three- dimensional structure, which improves the overall conductivity and which facilitates the fast electron and Li-ion transfer, thus improving the cycling stability and multiplicity performance of the composite. The vacuum mechanical press injection method is simple and efficient for composite modification of TiO2 nanotube array thin film materials.