Hollow nanospheres composed of titanium dioxide nanocrystals modified with carbon and gold for high performance lithium ion batteries

Herein, we reported a facile route to fabricate carbon and Au treated TiO2 mesoporous hollow spheres (MHTiO2@C-Au) as high performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries. The high porosity of the hollow spheres, together with the inner carbon supporting and superficial Au coating, enhanced the cycling stability and rate performance of the MHTiO2@C-Au electrode significantly. The MHTiO2@C-Au cemposite exhibits a high reversible specific capacity of 186.6 mA h g(-1) after 200 cycles at the current density of 1.0C, superior rate performances of around 151.0 mA h g(-1) at the current rate of 5.0C. The outstanding electrochemical property is attributed to the overall structural features of the MHTiO2@C-Au, which can not only shorten the diffusion path of lithium ions and electrons, but also improve the stability of the hollow structures during the lithium ion insertion and extraction process. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.