1. Facile and fast Na-ion intercalation employing amorphous black TiO2-x/C composite nanofiber anodes.
- Author
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Lee, Na-Won, Jung, Ji-Won, Lee, Jun-Seo, Jang, Hye-Yeon, Kim, Il-Doo, and Ryu, Won-Hee
- Subjects
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INTERCALATION reactions , *NANOFIBERS , *ENERGY storage , *TITANIUM dioxide , *SODIUM ions - Abstract
Structural and electronic modification of titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) nanomaterials induced by the co-introduction of fully disordered glass phase and oxygen vacancies can lead to remarkable advances in the electrode performance in emerging energy storage systems. We report on the effective co-creation of fully amorphous nanofibers (NFs) composed of black TiO 2-x and conductive carbons throughout the NF structure, and evaluate the materials as potential anodes in sodium-ion batteries. The black TiO 2-x nanofiber is successfully fabricated by electrospinning a precursor solution followed by a two-step sequential thermal treatment in an air and reducing atmosphere. The NF electrode could deliver approximately two-fold higher 2nd discharge capacity and an excellent kinetic performance even under high rates compared to that delivered by anatase-structured white TiO 2 NFs used as reference, because of (i) an inherent free volume in the glass phase corresponding to the enlarged Na + sites, (ii) increased electrical conductivity (low bandgap) resulting from the presence of Ti 3+ , (iii) introduction of conductive carbon agents around the TiO 2-x domain, and (iv) one-dimensional NF feature allowing numerous Na + reaction sites at the electrochemical interface. We also elucidate the morphological and structural changes in the nanofibers after discharge and charge by ex-situ characterizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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