Boron-doped TiO2 anode materials for high-rate lithium ion batteries

Boron(B)-doped TiO2 (BT) materials are synthesized through a simple one-pot process using a sol-gel method, and are employed as anode materials in Li-ion batteries. The increase of B-dopant concentration up to 10.4 wt% in BT samples increases the interplanar spacing between TiO2 lattices from 3.33 angstrom to 4.33 angstrom, and the BET surface area from 27.7 m(2) g (1) to 90.6 m(2) g (1). Additionally, the BT sample containing a relatively large amount of B possesses cylindrical pores that are favorable for lithium-ion transfer, leading to the highest diffusion coefficient. Consequently, the BT anodes with high B-dopant concentration exhibit significantly-improved cyclic capacities at 100 cycles: 166.9 mA h g (1) at 1 C and 119.4 mA h g (1) at 10 C, whereas the non-doped BT sample, TiO2, exhibits 107.7 mA h g (1) at 1 C and 19.9 mA h g (1) at 10 C at 100 cycles. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.