Recent Progress of TiO2-Based Anodes for Li Ion Batteries

TiO2-based materials have been widely studied in the field of photocatalysis, sensors, and solar cells. Besides that, TiO2-based materials are of great interest for energy storage and conversion devices, in particular rechargeable lithium ion batteries (LIBs). TiO2 has significant advantage due to its low volume change (<4%) during Li ion insertion/desertions process, short paths for fast lithium ion diffusion, and large exposed surface offering more lithium insertion channels. However, the relatively low theoretical capacity and electrical conductivity of TiO2 greatly hampered its practical application. Various strategies have been developed to solve these problems, such as designing different nanostructured TiO2 to improve electronic conductivity, coating or combining TiO2 with carbonaceous materials, incorporating metal oxides to enhance its capacity, and doping with cationic or anionic dopants to form more open channels and active sites for Li ion transport. This review is devoted to the recent progress in enhancing the LIBs performance of TiO2 with various synthetic strategies and architectures control. Based on the lithium storage mechanism, we will also bring forward the existing challenges for future exploitation and development of TiO2- based anodes in energy storage, which would guide the development for rationally and efficiently designing more efficient TiO2-based LIBs anodes.