Facile synthesis of flower-like T-Nb₂O₅ nanostructures as anode materials for lithium-ion battery

As a model quasi-2D network intercalation electrodes, niobium pentoxide (Nb₂O₅) has gained numerous attention in electrochemical materials because of its structural stability and high safety. Nevertheless, Nb₂O₅ exhibits the inherent low conductivity of transition metal oxides, which limits the rate of ionic diffusion and charge transfer. To overcome the drawbacks, the nanoscale Nb₂O₅ can be synthesized to improve electrochemical performance. Here, we prepared the flower-like orthorhombic Nb₂O₅ (i.e., T-Nb₂O₅) nanostructures to evaluate the effect of Nb₂O₅ nanoparticle morphology associated with crystallinity for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) anode. T-Nb₂O₅-2 displays superior crystallinity, pore structure, capacity, reversibility, and cycling stability. Specifically, T-Nb₂O₅-2 exhibits the initial charge/discharge capacity of 289 and 525 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C, and after 100 cycles, the capacity is 178.2 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 C when the solvothermal time is 16 h. This study shows that Nb₂O₅ with good crystallinity can slow down the volume expansion and structural deformation generated during the intercalation–deintercalation of Li-ions. We believe that the specified Nb₂O₅ presented in this work has great potential as a promising candidate for high-performance LIB anodes.