Lithium-ion battery anode properties of TiO 2 nanotubes prepared by the hydrothermal synthesis of mixed (anatase and rutile) particles

Abstract

From mixed (anatase and rutile) bulk particles, anatase TiO 2 nanotubes are synthesized in this study by an alkaline hydrothermal reaction and a consequent annealing at 300–400 °C. The physical and electrochemical properties of the TiO 2 nanotube are investigated for use as an anode active material for lithium-ion batteries. Upon the first discharge–charge sweep and simultaneous impedance measurements at local potentials, this study shows that interfacial resistance decreases significantly when passing lithium ions through a solid electrolyte interface layer at the lithium insertion/deinsertion plateaus of 1.75/2.0 V, corresponding to the redox potentials of anatase TiO 2 nanotubes. For an anatase TiO 2 nanotube containing minor TiO 2(B) phase obtained after annealing at 300 °C, the high-rate capability can be strongly enhanced by an isotropic dispersion of TiO 2 nanotubes to yield a discharge capacity higher than 150 mAh g −1, even upon 100 cycles of 10 C-rate discharge–charge operations. This is suitable for use as a high-power anode material for lithium-ion batteries.