Flowerlike Ti-Doped MoO3 Conductive Anode Fabricated by a Novel NiTi Dealloying Method: Greatly Enhanced Reversibility of the Conversion and Intercalation Reaction.

Anodes made of molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) suffer from insufficient conductivity and low catalytic reactivity. Here, we demonstrate that by using a dealloying method, we were able to fabricate anode of Ti-doped MoO3 (Ti-MoO3), which exhibits high catalytic reactivity, along with enhanced rate performance and cycling stability. We found that after doping, interestingly, the Ti-MoO3 forms nanosheets and assembles into a micrometer-sized flowerlike morphology with enhanced interlayer distance. The density functional theory result has further concluded that the band gap of the Ti-doped anode has been reduced significantly, thus greatly enhancing the electronic conductivity. As a result, the structure maintains stability during the Li+ intercalation/deintercalation processes, which enhances the cycling stability and rate capability. This engineering strategy and one-step synthesis route opens up a new pathway in the design of anode materials.