Mesoporous materials have gained a great deal of interest as catalysts because of their unique textural and structural characteristics. In this study, mesoporous spheres of anatase-TiO 2 with a specific surface area of 147 m 2 /g and a pore volume of 0.139 cm 3 /g, were successfully synthesized by combining a sol-gel process with an anionic surfactant ͑SDS͒-assisted templating method. When used as the active component of the negative electrode materials for lithium batteries, they exhibit a large initial electrochemical lithium insertion capacity of 257 mAh/g, good reversibility and cyclic performance, as well as high discharge-charge rate properties.Because of their superior physicochemical properties, titanium oxides were widely used as catalyst supports, 1,2 solar-energy conversion, 3-5 photocatalysis, 6,7 sorption media, gas sensors, and electrochemical capacitors. 8 Recently, nanostructure titanium oxides have attracted great attention due to their unique structure and properties. 9-14 As one of the candidates for the negative electrode materials of lithium batteries, it has been reported that TiO 2 nanorods, 15,16 nanotubes, 17,18 and nanowires 19 have higher reversibility and insertion ratios than compact materials in lithium rechargeable batteries. Especially, mesoporous-structured TiO 2 can facilitate better accessibility of reactants to the catalysts 20 and shows a good photocatalyst to some organ molecules 21-23 due to its remarkably large surface area and narrow pore-size distribution. This form of TiO 2 can be expected to be used as the active component of the negative-electrode materials for lithium batteries, though it is strange that there are only a few reports about it. [24][25][26] Generally, mesoporous TiO 2 is prepared by a sol-gel process, 21,23 a hydrothermal process, 27,28 or an ultrasonic process. 29 To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of the preparation of mesoporous titania using anionic surfactants. In this article, a straightforward combined sol-gel process with an anionic surfactant ͑SDS͒-assisted templating method for the synthesis of mesoporous anatase TiO 2 is reported. The electrochemical insertion of lithium into the mesoporous anatase TiO 2 spheres thus obtained was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic method.
ExperimentalAll reagents were analytical grade supplied by the Beijing Agent Company and were used as received. Nanocrystalline mesoporous TiO 2 spheres were synthesized via a combined sol-gel process with a surfactant ͑SDS͒-assisted templating mechanism in a TBTacetylacetonate ͑AcAc͒ modified system. SDS was used as a template behaving as a mesopore-forming agent. AcAc was applied to moderate the hydrolysis of the titanium precursor species by binding with TBT. In a typical synthesis, 1 mL of AcAc was first introduced into 0.5 mL of TBT with a mole ratio of 6.6. When TBT was mixed with AcAc, the AcAc combined with the Ti atom, causing a color change from colorless to yellow. 30 Afterwards, this mixture was added into 20 mL of 0.07 M SDS aqu...