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Nanostructured TiO2 has applications in solar cells, photocatalysts, and fast-charging, safe lithium ion batteries (LIBs). To meet the demand of high-capacity and high-rate LIBs with TiO2-based anodes, it is important to fine-tune the nanoarchitecture using a well-controlled synthesis approach. Herein, we report a new approach that involves epitaxial growth combined with topotactic conversion to synthesize a unique type of 3D TiO2 nanoarchitecture that is assembled by well-oriented ultrathin nanobelts. The whole nanoarchitecture displays a 3D Chinese knot-like morphology; the core consists of robust perpendicular interwoven nanobelts and the shell is made of extended nanobelts. The nanobelts oriented in three perpendicular A[001] directions facilitate Li+ penetration and diffusion. Abundant anatase/TiO2-B interfaces provide a large amount of interfacial pseudocapacitance. A high and stable capacity of 130 mA·h·g-1 was obtained after 3, 000 cycles at 10 A·g-1 (50 C), and the high-rate property of our material was greater than that of many recently reported high-rate TiO2 anodes. Our result provides, not only a novel synthesis strategy, but also a new type of 3D anatase TiO2 anode that may be useful in developing long-lasting and fast-charging batteries.
This research was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Nos. 51672315, U1301242, 21271190, and 21403106), the government of Guangzhou city for an international joint-project (No. 201704030020), the Government of Guangdong Province for NSF (No. S2012020011113) and the provincial Ministry of Cooperative funded special funds (Nos. 2013A090100010, 2016B090932005, and 2015B090927002), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 16lgpy18). The authors acknowledge Prof. Hong Jin Fan from Nanyang Technological University for helpful discussions.