Superior electrochemical performance of self-assemble carbon layer dual-phase TiO2/Zn2Ti3O8 for Li-ion anode

The application of commercial TiO2 (c-TiO2) as the anode material in Li-ion batteries suffers from the poor ionic and electronic conductivities. Herein, Zn2Ti3O8/TiO2 composite was prepared by sintering the mixture of Zn(NO3)2 and commercial TiO2 with various Zn/Ti ratios, so as to introduce Zn2Ti3O8 with Li+ diffusion paths and create additional interfaces for Li+ migration and capacitive energy-storage. Then the composite was self-assembled with the carbon derived from citric acid (CA) to alleviate electronic conductivity. The carbon-coated Zn2Ti3O8/TiO2 composite delivers high charge/discharge capacities of 294.4/298.2 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and a reversible capacity of 226.4 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles at 0.5 A g−1. This work provides a new strategy for the application of c-TiO2 in Li-ion anode.