Correlating Titania Nanostructured Morphologies with Performance as Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Titanium oxide is a ubiquitous and commonly used material in the environment. Herein, we have systematically probed the use of various hydrothermally derived titania (TiO2) architectures including zero-dimensional (0D) nanoparticles, one-dimensional (1D) nanowires, and three-dimensional (3D) urchin-like motifs as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The structure and morphology of these nanomaterials were characterized using electron microscopy. The surface areas of these materials were quantitatively analyzed through Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) adsorption measurements and were found to be relatively similar for both 1D and 3D samples with a slightly higher surface area associated with the 0D nanoparticles. Hence, to normalize for the surface area effect, readily available 0D commercial nanoparticles (Degussa P25), which possessed a similar surface area to that of as-prepared 1D and 3D materials, were also analyzed. Electrochemical analysis revealed a superior performance of hydrothermally derived 3D urchin-like motifs as compared with both as-prepared 0D and 1D samples as well as commercial Degussa P25. Our studies suggest the greater overall importance of morphology as opposed to surface area in dictating the efficiency of the Li ion diffusion process. Specifically, the 3D urchins yielded consistent rate capabilities, delivering 214, 167, 120, 99, and 52 mAh/g under corresponding discharge rates of 0.1, 1, 10, 20, and 50 C, respectively. Moreover, these 3D motifs gave rise to a stable cycling performance, exhibiting a capacity retention of ∼90% in cycles 1–100 under a discharge rate of 1 C. Furthermore, the rate capability and cycling performance of our 3D hierarchical motifs were (i) comparable to those of anatase TiO2/TiO2-(B) hybrid structures even with little if any electrochemically promising bronze (B) phase herein and (ii) clearly enhanced as compared with previous results using similar anatase 3D microspheres.

Effect of Hf-doping on electrochemical performance of anatase TiO 2 as an anode material for lithium storage

“…It was established elsewhere [ 10 , 11 ] that nanostructuring improves significantly the Li-storage properties of titania, e.g. facilitates the Li + ion diffusion and intensifies the redox electrochemical reactions.…”

TiO2 as an Anode of High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Comprehensive Review towards Practical Application

“…These microspheres of 500-800 nm diameter possessed high specific surface area (131.92 m 2 g −1 ). The urchin-like 3D microspheres have ~2.4, 1.5, and 2.8 times higher diffusion kinetics than the commercial TiO 2 nano powder and the 0D and 1D TiO 2 nanostructures because they comprised both 0D (nanoparticles) and 1D (nanowires) [94]. The loosely packed nanowires and nanoparticles centered by a core provide exposed surface area.…”

Efficient Recovery of Lithium Cobaltate from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries for Oxygen Evolution Reaction

“…One of such attempts is the use of cathode material used in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for OERs. Lithium-ion batteries have been largely employed in various devices such as laptops, video cameras, mobile phones and other portable appliances [9], electric vehicles and photovoltaic cells [10], owing to their characteristics such as long-life cycle, light weight, high working voltage, no memory effect, high energy density, light weight, small size and low self-discharge rate [11]. The cathode of lithium-ion batteries is made up of lithium-transition metal oxides [12], which have been tested for the OER activities [13,14].…”