Impact of Structural Water on the Electrochemical Performance of Anatase Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

Graphite-based lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the most widely adopted battery technology in industry due to their high energy and power density, high cycle stability, and gravimetric capacity. Demand for LIBs is expected to greatly increase in the future due to their use in consumer electronics such as cell phones and portable computers, and increasing demand for electric vehicles. However, the cost effectiveness and performance of existing LIBs impedes their adoption and use in many applications. The limitations of graphite-based LIBs are their low charging rate, structural instability, capacity due to long-term cycling, and safety issues associated with Li dendrite growth. These limitations need to be overcome to design a battery that can meet the operation requirements for future technologies. In this work we investigate the application of anatase titanium dioxide (TiO ₂ ) nanoparticles synthesized via water assisted sol-gel process as a potential replacement for graphite in LIBs. TiO ₂ is a promising candidate material for replacing graphite due to its high energy density and improved cycle stability. However, it suffers from low theoretical capacity and slow transport ion and electron kinetics. These short-comings can be addressed by tuning the phase, crystallinity, defect concentration, and nanostructure of TiO ₂ . The goal of this study of this study is to investigate how structural water impacts the electrochemical performance of the TiO ₂ nanoparticles when annealed at different temperatures.