Bio-ingredient assisted formation of porous TiO2 for Li-ion battery electrodes

Macroporous TiO2 was synthesized by using low-cost bio-ingredients as the pore forming templates. TiCl4 in C2H5OH(l) containing NH4OH(aq.) was polymerized in the presence of instant yeast and glucose. The organic–inorganic hybrid precursor was further processed to generate macroporous anatase TiO2 (pore size: 2.5–3 μm) with mesopores (4–51 nm). The porous TiO2 was coated with a thin layer of carbon by chemical vapour deposition to generate the hierarchical C/TiO2 nanocomposite material. The porous products were investigated as anode materials for Li-ion batteries. The capacities of the hierarchical C/TiO2 electrode material remained 180 mA h g−1 and 142 mA h g−1 under high charge/discharge rates of 5 C and 10 C, respectively. It demonstrated good cycling stability of 318 mA h g−1 at 0.1 C at various discharge–charge rates. The excellent performance is attributed to the high specific surface areas and open spaces of the C/TiO2 allowing effortless intercalation/deintercalation of Li ions.