The influence of TiO2 nanostructure properties on the performance of TiO2-based anodes in lithium ion battery applications

Abstract

We investigated the properties of 7 different titanium dioxide nanostructures with different crystal structures (3 anatase, 2 rutile, and 2 mixed anatase-rutile phase). Nanoparticle samples and mesoporous sphere samples were investigated. Even for the same crystal structure, significant variations in performance were observed for anatase titania samples, while 2 rutile samples exhibited similar performance inferior to anatase-based anodes. Mixed-phase samples also exhibited lower specific capacity compared to the best performing anatase samples, and in this case a significant difference in performance was observed between nanoparticles and mesoporous spheres.