Mesoporous TiO2 nanosheet with a large amount of exposed {001} facets as sulfur host for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Li–S battery is an attractive electrochemical energy storage system because of its high energy density. However, its commercialization has been greatly affected by the poor cycle life and low rate performance, which is attributed to the dissolution of polysulfides and their shuttle effects. In this study, titanium dioxide particles with a large amount of exposed {001} facets (TDPEF) were prepared by alcohol-thermal method. The as-prepared TDPEF achieved a relatively high specific surface area of 92 m2 g−1 and a pore volume of 0.27 cm g−1. Sulfur was mixed with the TDPEF to form TDPEF/S composite by a melt diffusion process. The TDPEF/S composite exhibits much excellent discharge capacity retention of 80 % after 100 cycles compared with pure sulfur at a high current rate of 0.5 C, and it still has a discharge capacity as high as 530 mAh g−1 even at the current rate of 4 C.