TiO₂ Based Nanomaterials and Their Application as Anode for Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries

Titanium dioxide- (TiO2-) based nanomaterials have been widely adopted as active materials for photocatalysis, sensors, solar cells, and for energy storage and conversion devices, especially rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), due to their excellent structural and cycling stability, high discharge voltage plateau (more than 1.7 V versus Li+/Li), high safety, environmental friendliness, and low cost. However, due to their relatively low theoretical capacity and electrical conductivity, their use in practical applications, i.e. anode materials for LIBs, is limited. Several strategies have been developed to improve the conductivity, the capacity, the cycling stability, and the rate capability of TiO2-based materials such as designing different nanostructures (1D, 2D, and 3D), Coating or combining TiO2 with carbonaceous materials, and selective doping with mono and heteroatoms. This chapter is devoted to the development of a simple and cost-efficient strategies for the preparation of TiO2 nanoparticles as anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). These strategies consist of using the Sol–Gel method, with a sodium alginate biopolymer as a templating agent and studying the influence of calcination temperature and phosphorus doping on the structural, the morphological and the textural properties of TiO2 material. Moreover, the synthetized materials were tested electrochemically as anode material for lithium ion battery. TiO2 electrodes calcined at 300°C and 450°C have delivered a reversible capacity of 266 mAh g−1, 275 mAh g−1 with coulombic efficiencies of 70%, 75% during the first cycle under C/10 current rate, respectively. Besides, the phosphorus doped TiO2 electrodes were presented excellent lithium storage properties compared to the non-doped electrodes which can be attributed to the beneficial role of phosphorus doping to inhibit the growth of TiO2 nanoparticles during the synthesis process and provide a high electronic conductivity