TiO2 hierarchical hollow microspheres with different size for application as anodes in high-performance lithium storage

• Published in: Applied energy 2016-08, Vol.175, p.488-494
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiaobing, Meng, Qiuxia, Wang, Yuanyuan, Liang, Huijun, Bai, Zhengyu, Wang, Kui, Lou, Xiangdong, Cai, Bibo, Yang, Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Hierarchical hollow microspheres; Lithium-ion storage; Size-effect; TiO2
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.04.066

In the application of lithium-ion batteries, the influences of microsphere sizes are more significant than the secondary nanoparticles size and crystallinity of TiO2-HSs for their transfer resistance and cycling performance, so that the bigger sizes of TiO2-HSs can retain high reversible capacities after 30 recycles. [Display omitted] •Hierarchical hollow microspheres have size-effect in the application of lithium ion battery.•The microsphere sizes can significantly affect the cycling capacities of TiO2.•The nanoparticles size affect the initial discharge capacity and lithium ion diffusion.•Controlled microsphere size is more significant for improving TiO2 cycling capacities. Nowadays, the safety issue has greatly hindered the development of large capacity lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), especially in electric vehicles applications. TiO2 is a kind of potential anode candidate for improving the safety of LIBs. However, it still needs to understand how to improve the performance of TiO2 anode in the practical applications. Herein, we design a contrast experiment by using three sizes of TiO2 hierarchical hollow microspheres (TiO2-HSs). The research results indicated that the cycling performance of TiO2-HSs anode can be affected by the size of microspheres, and the nanoparticles size of microspheres and crystallinity of TiO2 can affect their initial discharge capacity and lithium ion diffusion. And, the influence of microspheres size is more significant. This may provide a new strategy for improving the lithium-ion storage property of TiO2 anode material in the practical applications.