The synergistic effect of P-doping and carbon coating for boosting electrochemical performance of TiO_(2) nanospheres for sodium-ion batteries

P-doping is an effective way to modulate the electronic structure and improve the Na+diffusion kinetics of TiO_(2), enabling enhanced electrochemical performance. However, it is a challenge to prepare TiO;with a high P-doping concentration starting from TiO_(2)in a crystalline state. In this work, we design a novel two-step route for constructing a carbon-coated anatase P-doping TiO_(2)nanospheres(denote as(PAn TSS)@NC) with high P-doping concentration, by utilizing amorphous TiO;nanospheres with the ultrahigh specific area as P-doping precursor firstly, and followed by carbon coating treatment. Experimental results demonstrate that P is successfully doped into the crystal lattice and carbon layer is well coated on the surface of TiO_(2), with P-doping and carbon-coating contents of ~13.5 wt% and 10.4 wt%, respectively,which results in the enhanced pseudocapacitive behavior as well as favorable Na+and electron transferring kinetics. The(P-AnTSS)@NC sample shows excellent rate and cycle performance, exhibiting specific capacities of 177 and 115 m Ah/g at 0.1 and 1.0 A/g after 150 and 2000 cycles, respectively.