Microwave-induced solid-state synthesis of TiO2(B) nanobelts with enhanced lithium-storage properties

A fast and economical route based on an efficient microwave-induced solid-state process has been developed to synthesize metastable TiO2(B) nanobelts with widths of 30-100 nm and lengths up to a few micrometers on a large scale. This new method reduces the synthesis time for the preparation of TiO2(B) nanobelts to less than half an hour, allowing the screening of a wide range of reaction conditions for optimizing and scaling up the production and facilitating the formation of metastable phase TiO2(B). The as-formed TiO2(B) nanobelts exhibit enhanced lithium-storage performances, compared with the TiO2(B) product obtained by the conventional heating. This study provides a new way for large-scale industrial production of high-quality metastable TiO2(B) nanostructures. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy.