Effect of the Secondary Rutile Phase in Single‐Step Synthesized Carbon‐Coated Anatase TiO 2 Nanoparticles as Lithium‐Ion Anode Material

International audienceTiO2 has been investigated as alternative anode material candidate for lithium-ion batteries for several years now due to its advantageous safety and rate capability in combination with its non-toxicity and abundance. Herein, we report the synthesis via laser pyrolysis, which allows the single-step, industrial-scale realization of carbon-coated TiO2 nanoparticles. The modification of the synthesis parameters enables the variation of the rutile-to-anatase phase ratio. Following a comprehensive physicochemical and electrochemical characterization, both the higher and lower rutile-to-anatase ratio show very stable cycling in lithium battery half-cells, while the extended presence of the rutile phase limits the achievable specific capacity and lowers the apparent lithium-ion diffusion coefficient, which leads to relatively lower capacities at elevated current densities