Fabrication of nest-like TiO2 hollow microspheres and its application for lithium ion batteries with high-rate performance

Nest-like TiO2 hollow microspheres composed of nanowires have been successfully synthesized via a simple process including hydrothermal treatment and calcination. The hydrothermal treatment time plays important roles in the morphologies and crystallographic structures for the final products. The obtained nest-like TiO2 hollow microspheres gives a reversible capacity of 228 mAhg(-1) at 0.5C rate. Furthermore, the nest-like TiO2 hollow microspheres could possess relatively high reversible capacities even at higher charge/discharge rates. The reversible capacities of approximately 210, 191, 166, 150 and 130 mAhg(-1) are obtained at 1C, 2C, 5C, 10C and 20C, respectively. The superior electrochemical performance of hollow TiO2 microspheres composed of nanowires is mainly related to its efficient hierarchical nanostructures. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.