Self-assembled Fe O nanoparticle-doped TiO nanorod superparticles with highly enhanced lithium storage properties

Rational design of nanostructured anode materials is of importance for promoting the performance of lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Here the Fe O nanoparticles (NPs) were controllably inserted into the matrix of TiO nanorods (NRs) to obtain doped-superparticles (SPs) by a facile colloidal self-assembly route and subsequent calcination. To justify the effects of the doping, the lithium storage performances of the doped-SPs were evaluated as anode materials for LIBs. The results indicated that even a slight doping of Fe O NPs can effectively enhance the properties of the anode materials compared with raw TiO NR SPs. Additionally, the Fe O /(TiO ) SPs showed an optimal performance in term of specific capacity, rate capacity, and cycling stability, whose reversible capacity maintained around 550 mA h g at a current density of 1000 mA g after 400 cycles. The highly enhanced lithium storage of the Fe O NP doped-TiO NR SPs can substantially be attributed to the synergism of the doped-superstructure, in which the individual merits of the Fe O NPs and TiO NRs are fully played out. This work not only demonstrates the significant effects of Fe O NP doping for TiO NR SP anode materials in LIBs, but also opens an avenue for the self-assembly synthesis of doped-SPs with extended applications.