Continuous hollow TiO2 structures with three-dimensional interconnected single crystals and large pore mesoporous shells for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

A continuous hollow TiO2 structure with three-dimensional (3D) interconnected anatase single crystals self-assembled into compact large pore mesoporous shells had been fabricated in this paper. The as-obtained hierarchically micro/nano-structured materials, denoted as CTAB-TiO2, are simply prepared via a hydrothermal method with the assistance of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles. The results show that both CTAB and the thermal treatment played a key role in forming a continuous hollow micro/nano-structure with large mesopores. It has been found that the rate properties and cyclic performance of lithium-ion batteries based on annealed CTAB-TiO2, denoted as A-CTAB-TiO2, were greatly enhanced compared to the CTAB-TiO2 electrodes, this improvement was largely attributed to the reduction of the interfacial resistance due to nanocrystal-nanocrystal contact throughout the electrode films and the increased Li-ion diffusion properties of uniform large pore mesoporous shells (12.8 nm). The low-cost synthesis and excellent electrode properties of the continuous interconnected single crystals with a large pore mesoporous architecture could provide a new direction for developing higher-performance lithium storage electrodes.