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The synthesis as well as the electrochemical properties study of niobium-doped TiO2 (NTO) with mesoporosity and high surface area is presented. The mesoporous NTO was prepared using a novel poly(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) amphiphilic diblock copolymer as a template and simple titanium reagents (TiCl4 and Nb(OC2H5)5) by a polymer-assisted sol−gel process. The samples were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis (DSC-TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (including high-resolution imaging-HRTEM), and the Brunauer−Emmett−Teller (BET). All samples are highly crystalline and have pore-solid architectures after removal of the polymer template by calcination. The resulting mesoporous NTO shows a high porosity of 46% and a high surface area of 128 m2/g, respectively. The as-prepared samples were used as positive electrode materials for lithium-ion battery, whose charge−discharge properties, cyclic voltammetry, and cycle performance were examined and revealed very good properties. A highly stable capacity of 160 mA h g−1 was found after 100 cycles.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.