Pomegranate-like C@TiO mesoporous honeycomb spheres for high performance lithium ion batteries.

Pomegranate-like C@TiO mesoporous honeycomb spheres have been synthesized through two simple steps: formation of TiO mesoporous honeycomb spheres and the coating of polypyrrole followed by carbonization. TiO mesoporous honeycomb spheres are of large specific surface area of 153 m g and contain abundant mesopores, which leads to high electrochemical activity and good kinetic performance of TiO. A layer of amorphous carbon shell with the thickness of 30-40 nm tightly encapsulates a TiO mesoporous honeycomb sphere, forming a novel pomegranate-like small sphere, which significantly improves electronic conductivity and structural stability of TiO. Benefiting from the unique pomegranate-like structure, C@TiO mesoporous honeycomb spheres exhibit high specific capacity, stable long-term cycling performance and good rate capability as an anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). After 500 cycles at 1 C, the discharge capacity still reaches 184 mAh g. The electrochemical performance is superior to pure TiO mesoporous honeycomb spheres and most of the reported high-performance TiO-based composites. This work provides a new high-performance TiO-carbon-based composite material for LIBs as well as a new valuable research strategy.