Zero-strain strategy incorporating TaC with TaO to enhance its rate capacity for long-term lithium storage.

TaO holds great potential for lithium storage due to its high theoretical capacity and long-life cycling. However, it still suffers from an unsatisfactory rate capability because of its low conductivity and significant volume expansion during the charging/discharging process. In this study, a zero-strain strategy was developed to composite TaO with zero-strain TaC as an anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).