Flexible, three-dimensional ordered macroporous TiO2 electrode with enhanced electrode electrolyte interaction in high-power Li-ion batteries

A simple methodology is developed for the in-situ preparation of flexible, three-dimensional ordered macroporous (3DOM) TiO2 electrodes with greatly enhanced mass transfer. The 3DOM electrode is fabricated using a polystyrene colloidal crystal templated carbon cloth, and provides significant improvements over conventional nanoparticle electrodes without the use of binder or other additive. When evaluated as an anode in a Li-ion battery, the 3DOM electrode provides outstanding high rate performance. The electrode provides a specific capacity of 174 mA h g(-1) at a current density of 2 A g(-1), which is 2.6 times greater than that achieved with a nanoparticle electrode (68 mA h g(-1)). The 3DOM electrode also achieves excellent cycling stability, with a capacity retention of 94.8% (181 mA h g(-1)) over 1000 cycles at 10 C (1.7 A g(-1)) compared to 93.7% (67 mA h g(-1)) for the nanoparticle electrode. To the best of our knowledge, the performance of our 3DOM electrode is among the highest of binder-free, flexible TiO2 electrodes. We believe that this methodology is highly useful and is easily transferable to other materials and applications (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.