Dual doping of titania for enhanced Na storage performance

The sluggish sodium-ion diffusion kinetics and low electronic conductivity have severely restricted the development of the TiO2 anode for sodium-ion batteries. Defect engineering, such as single-heteroatom doping and oxygen vacancies, has proven to be effective methods to improve the conductivity of TiO2, but a comprehensive understanding of the synergistic effect of dual-heteroatom doping and oxygen vacancies on the sodium storage performance of TiO2 is still lacking. Herein, we design a synergistic strategy of dual doping via the in situ doping and hydrogenation treatment to improve conductivity and cycling stability of TiO2. Experiments and theoretical calculations together revealed that N and C doping reduces the band gap of TiO2, while the presence of oxygen vacancies efficiently accelerates the diffusion of sodium ions. Thus N, C, and oxygen vacancies with high concentration co-doped TiO2, resulting in extraordinary high-rate performance, significant stable cycling, and long-term cyclability of up to 10,000 cycles. The synthesis strategy of dual doping proposed here emphasizes the importance of defect engineering in improving material conductivity and electrode cycling stability for possible practical applications in the near future.