Direct synthesis of rutile TiO2 nanorods with improved electrochemical lithium ion storage properties

Rutile TiO2 nanorods were directly synthesized from natural mineral ilmenite via a simple two-step process, including ball milling and wet chemistry treatments. The morphological and structural characterizations reveal that the nanorods with length of 50–100 nm, width of 5–20 nm and thickness of 2–5 nm possess a large specific surface area (97 m2/g). The obtained rutile TiO2 nanorods show excellent electrochemical properties, such as large reversible charge–discharge capacity, good cycling stability and high rate performance, when used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. Moreover, their electrochemical performance is better than that of two commercial samples including commercial annatase and rutile TiO2.

► TiO2 single-crystal nanorods with high yield are successfully prepared from cheap and abundant natural ilmenite via a simple two-step process.
► The electrochemical performance of these nanorods as anode materials for Li-ion batteries is excellent.
► The TiO2 nanorods with high surface area exhibit remarkable rate capability (131 and 115 mAhg−1 at 33.6 and 1680 mAg−1, respectively).
► Electrochemical performance of the TiO2 nanorods is better than that of two commercial samples including commercial annatase and rutile TiO2.