Arginine-Assisted Formation of Hierarchical TiO2 Microspheres for Lithium-Ion and Sodium-Ion Battery Applications

Abstract

A facile route was established to synthesize hierarchically structured high specific surface area (122 m(2)g(-1)) TiO2 microspheres (diameter: 0.5-1 mu m). In a heated Teflon-coated stainless-steel autoclave, titanium tetrabutoxide Ti(OBu)(4), arginine, and absolute ethanol were reacted via the solvothermal reaction to generate the TiO2 precursor. The as-formed precursor solid was further processed at 673K under air to generate the TiO2 microspheres of nanosheets (thickness: 18 nm). The products were examined as potential anode materials for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries. After 100 cycles at 0.1 C (1C = 335 mAhg(-1)), the assembled batteries showed respectable specific capacity 241 mAhg(-1) and 145 mAhg(-1) for Li-ion and Na-ion batteries, respectively.