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Abstract The development of 1D nanostructures with enhanced material properties has been an attractive endeavor for applications in energy and environmental fields, but it remains a major research challenge. Herein, this work demonstrates a simple, gel‐derived method to synthesize uniform 1D elongated sub‐nanotubes with an anatase/bronze TiO 2 nanocrystal wall (TiO 2 SNTs). The transformation mechanism of TiO 2 SNTs is studied by various ex situ characterization techniques. The resulting 1D nanostructures exhibit, synchronously, a high aspect ratio, open tubular interior, and anatase/bronze nanocrystal TiO 2 wall. This results in excellent properties of electron/ion transport and reaction kinetics. Consequently, as an anode material for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs), the TiO 2 SNTs display an ultrastable long‐life cycling stability with a capacity of 107 mAh g −1 at 16 C after 4000 cycles and a high‐rate capacity of 94 mAh g −1 at 32 C. This a high‐rate and long‐life performance is superior to any report on pure TiO 2 for SIBs. This work provides new fundamental information for the design and fabrication of inorganic structures for energy and environmental applications.
Chen et al. (Mon,) studied this question.