Nb-doped rutile titanium dioxide nanorods for lithium-ion batteries

Rutile titanium dioxide is a promising negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries due to low volume change on lithium-ion insertion, fast ion diffusion, and large surface area. However, the low theoretical capacity and conductivity of titanium dioxide has limited its application. In this work, rutile TiO₂ was synthesized using a batch hydrothermal method, and doped with Nb⁵⁺ (3.5 at%). <Potentiodynamic/galvanostatic > cycling in the range 1.0–3.0 V vs Li/Li⁺ was used to determine the Li-ion capacity of the doped and pristine TiO₂ material, and electrochemical cycling was used to measure the extent of conversion from the lithiated to de-lithiated state. The nanoscale structures of the pristine and doped materials were determined by powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area measurements. Cycling in the range 1.0–3.0 V vs Li/Li⁺ showed that Nb⁵⁺ doping into the structure resulted in higher charge capacities. After 100 cycles at 100 mA g⁻¹, the Nb-doped rutile TiO₂ maintained a capacity of ca. 390 mAh g⁻¹, 64% higher than undoped TiO₂. For electrochemical cycling in the range 0.05–3.0 V vs Li/Li⁺, the introduction of Nb⁵⁺ resulted in a higher conversion of rutile TiO₂ from the lithiated to de-lithiated state. The higher capacity of the doped TiO₂ is shown to be mainly due to the smaller particle size, optimized surface area, and orientation of the nanorods.