Designed fabrication of fluorine-doped carbon coated mesoporous TiO2 hollow spheres for improved lithium storage

•Anatase TiO2 hollow spheres with mesoporous shells (MHTO) was fabricated via a facile and controllable route, to improve the lithium ion mobility as well as the stability of the architecture.•Fluorine-doped carbon derived from polyvinylidene difluoride was further encapsulated onto TiO2 hollow spheres to improve the conductivity.•The composites could provide excellent electrochemical performance, which was desirable for the application of TiO2 as an anode material in lithium ion batteries.

In this manuscript, we demonstrated a facile route for the controllable design of “Fluorine (F)-doped carbon” (C/F)-treated TiO2 hollow spheres with mesoporous shells (MHTO-C/F). The fabrication of this distinct mesoporous hollow structures and the C/F coating could effectively improve the electrolyte permeability and architectural stability, as well as electrical conductivity and lithium ion mobility. As anticipated, MHTO-C/F has several remarkable electrochemical properties, such as a high specific reversible capacity of 252 mA h g−1, outstanding cycling stability of more than 210 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.5 C, and good rate performance of around 123 mA h g−1 at 5 C (1 C = 168 mA g−1). These properties are highly beneficial for lithium storage.

Graphical abstractHollow TiO2 with mesoporous shell (MHTO) was successfully fabricated by a novel and controllable route, followed by fluorine-doped carbon coating the MHTO (MHTO-C/F), with the aim of enhancing the conductivity and stability of structures.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide