An innovative synthesis of carbon-coated TiO 2 nanoparticles as a host for Na + intercalation in sodium-ion batteries.

In this work, an innovative route to synthesize an anatase TiO 2 @C composite is presented. The synthesis was conducted using a soft chemistry microwave-assisted method using titanium(IV) butoxide as a titanium precursor. The residual (un)converted titanium precursor remaining after TiO 2 synthesis was used as a carbon precursor and thermally treated under H 2 to obtain nanoparticles of the TiO 2 @C composite. A superior reversible specific capacity was obtained with TiO 2 @C (120 mA h g -1 at a C/20 rate, 3 rd cycle) compared to that with pristine TiO 2 (66.5 mA h g -1 at a C/20 rate, 3 rd cycle), in agreement with the importance of carbon coating addition to TiO 2 nanoparticles as negative electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries.