Design and evaluation of novel Zn doped mesoporous TiO ₂ based anode material for advanced lithium ion batteries

We report Zn doped mesoporous TiO ₂ microspheres synthesized via a combined sol-gel and solvothermal method exhibiting excellent Li-ion insertion-extraction properties. The specific capacity of Zn doped mesoporous TiO ₂ microspheres was significantly higher than that of TiO ₂ nanopowder at high charge-discharge rates. The superior rate performance offered by Zn doped mesoporous TiO ₂ microspheres may be attributed to enhanced electronic and ionic conductivity, which was achieved by improving the donor density via Zn doping and by providing a well interconnected mesoporous network of nanoparticles for the effective diffusion of Li ions. Zn doped mesoporous TiO ₂ microspheres showed more than an 87% capacity retention after 100 cycles at a charge-discharge rate of 1 C, demonstrating it to be a promising approach for the development of high-performance Li ion batteries.