Robust S-doped TiO_2@N,S-codoped carbon nanotube arrays as free-binder anodes for efficient sodium storage

摘要

Titanium dioxide(TiO_2) has been investigated broadly as a stable,safe,and cheap anode material for sodium-ion batteries in recent years.However,the poor electronic conductivity and inherent sluggish sodium ion diffusion hinder its practical applications.Herein,a self-template and in situ vulcanization strategy is developed to synthesize self-supported hybrid nanotube arrays composed of nitrogen/sulfur-codoped carbon coated sulfur-doped TiO_2 nanotubes(S-TiO_2@NS-C) starting from H_2 Ti_2 O_5-H_2 O nanoarrays.The S-TiO_2@NS-C composite with one-dimensional nano-sized subunits integrates several merits.Specifically,sulfur doping strongly improves the Na~+ storage ability of TiO_2@C-N nanotubes by narrowing the bandgap of original TiO_2.Originating from the nanoarrays structures built from hollow nanotubes,carbon layer and sulfur doping,the sluggish Na~+ insertion/extraction kinetics is effectively improved and the volume variation of the electrode material is significantly alleviated.As a result,the S-TiO_2@NS-C nanoarrays present efficient sodium storage properties.The greatly improved sodium storage performances of S-TiO_2@NS-C nanoarrays confirm the importance of rational engineering and synthesis of hollow array architectures with higher complexity.