Facile synthesis of hierarchical nanostructured rutile titania for lithium-ion battery

A facile hydrothermal method is developed to prepare rutile titania sub-microflowers consisting of nanorods with oxalic acid and TiOSO4 as reagents. The diameter of sub-microflowers and nanorods is found to be ca. 800 and 40 nm, respectively. Also, the shape and size of building blocks in rutile titania sub-microflowers can be considerably controlled via adjusting the reaction time and reactant amounts. Rutile titania sub-microflowers composed of nanorods display higher discharge capacity and better rate cycle stability than other rutile titania nanostructures as lithium-ion battery anode material due to enhancing the Li-ion transfer rate for small size building blocks.

► Rutile TiO2 sub-microflowers and sub-microspheres with different building blocks as anode materials of lithium-ion battery.
► Controllable morphologies with oxalic acid by the hydrothermal technique.
► Sub-microflower and sub-microspheres constructed by well organized nanorods exhibited high capacity and good cycle stability.
► Small size building blocks nanorods enhance the transfer rate of Li-ion.