Iron-Doped Cauliflower-Like Rutile TiO2 with Superior Sodium Storage Properties

Developing advanced anodes for sodium ion batteries is still challenging. In this work, Fe-doped three-dimensional (3D) cauliflower-like rutile TiO2 was successfully synthesized by a facile hydrolysis method followed by a low temperature annealing process. The influence of Fe content on the structure, morphology, and electrochemical performance was systematically investigated. When utilized as a sodium ion battery anode, 6.99%-Fe-doped TiO2 exhibited the best electrochemical performance. This sample delivered a very high reversible capacity (327.1 mAh g(-1) at 16.8 mA g(-1)) and superior rate performance (160.5 mAh g(-1) at 840 mA g(-1)), as well as long-term cycling stability (no capacity fading at 1680 mA g(-1) over 3000 cycles). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations combined with experimental results indicated that the significantly improved sodium storage ability of the Fe-doped sample should be mainly due to the increased oxygen vacancies, narrowed band gap, and lowered sodiation energy barrier, which enabled much higher electronic/ionic conductivities and more favorable sodium ion intercalation into rutile TiO2.