Titanium dioxide@titanium nitride nanowires on carbon cloth with remarkable rate capability for flexible lithium-ion batteries

•TiO2@TiN core–shell nanowires was synthesized via hydrothermal and annealing.•Improved rate capability was achieved by the TiO2@TiN core–shell electrode.•The TiO2@TiN core–shell electrode exhibited good cyclic stability.•Flexible lithium ion battery device was fabricated.•Attractive electrochemical performance was delivered by the flexible device.

Flexible lithium-ion batteries have attracted tremendous attention as a promising power source in the growing field of flexible electronic devices. In this article, we report a simple and binder free for the synthesis of TiO2@TiN nanowires on carbon cloth by hydrothermal method and annealing. This method is highly effective in improving the rate capability of TiO2 with discharge capacity of 136 mAh g−1 at high current rate to 30C. The TiO2@TiN nanowires on carbon cloth also show remarkable cyclic performance retaining 84% of the initial capacity (240 mAh g−1) after 650 cycles at 10C. High performance full flexible battery device based on TiO2@TiN nanowires/carbon cloth composite anode and LiCoO2 cathode exhibiting superior capacity retention with high discharge capacities of 227 mAh g−1 and 222 mAh g−1 at the flat and 90° bending position respectively during 30 cycles at 1C.

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