Facile synthesis of TiO.sub.2/WO.sub.3 nanocomposites and the electrochemical lithiation/delithiation activity

TiO.sub.2 is an attractive anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). However, the low theoretical capacity and poor conductivity greatly hinder its potential applications. In this work, TiO.sub.2/WO.sub.3 nanocomposites (NCs) are successfully synthesized by a one-step method of DC arc-discharge plasma. It is found that TiO.sub.2 and WO.sub.3 grains are closely combined into bigger particles by chemical/physical adherence, quite different from common connection ways of coating or mechanical mixing. In bigger particles, the combination of WO.sub.3 and TiO.sub.2 grains can reinforce their electrochemical activities, shorten the diffusion distance of Li.sup.+ ions inside, and effectively avoid side reactions happening at the interface between two phases. Moreover, the WO.sub.3 phase with a theoretical specific capacity of 694 mAh g.sup.-1 makes positive contributions to the TiO.sub.2-based materials in the capacity and conductivity. The TiO.sub.2/WO.sub.3 NCs electrode delivers a stable discharge specific capacity of 557.2 mAh g.sup.-1 at a current density of 0.1 A g.sup.-1 over 100 cycles, which recovers to 664.1 mAh g.sup.-1 after suffering from intense current impacts up to 2.0 A g.sup.-1.