Growth of rutile TiO₂ on the convex surface of nanocylinders: from nanoneedles to nanorods and their electrochemical properties.

In this work, bundles of rutile TiO₂ nanoneedles/nanorods are hydrothermally grown on carbon nanofibers (CNFs), forming free-standing mats consisting of three dimensional hierarchical nanostructures (TiO₂-on-CNFs). Morphologies and structures of the TiO₂-on-CNFs are studied using a field-emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). Their electrochemical properties as electrodes in lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are investigated and correlated with the morphologies and structures.