Hydrothermal Synthesis of TiO2 Aggregates and Their Application as Negative Electrodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries: The Conflicting Effects of Specific Surface and Pore Size

Abstract

TiO2 aggregates of controlled size have been successfully prepared by hydrothermal synthesis using TiO2 nanoparticles of different sizes as a building unit. In this work, different techniques were used to characterize the as-prepared TiO2 aggregates, e.g., X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller technique (BET), field emission gun scanning electron microscopy (FEGSEM), electrochemical measurements etc. The size of prepared TiO2 aggregates varied from 10–100 nm, and their pore size from around 5–12 nm; this size has been shown to depend on synthesis temperature. The mechanism of the aggregate formations was discussed in terms of efficiency of collision and coalescence processes. These newly synthetized TiO2 aggregates have been investigated as potential negative insertion electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The influence of specific surface areas and pore sizes on the improved capacity was discussed—and conflicting effects pointed out.