27 Feb 2025

Cycling titanium dioxide forms rocksalt nanograins for sodium-ion storage

Advanced materials and metamaterialsEnergy and storage
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What was demonstrated

In laboratory sodium half-cell tests, electrochemical cycling converted anatase or amorphous TiO2 through an amorphous stage into rocksalt NaTiO2 nanograins. After 20 pre-cycles, the c-a′-RS-NaTiO2 electrode delivered 253 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g and retained 72% capacity after 5,000 cycles at 2 A/g. The paper also assembled TiO2(A)||Na3V2(PO4)3 full cells and reported electrochemical activation during cell ageing.

Why it matters

The study links an electrochemically formed crystal phase with sodium storage behaviour and reports long cycling in laboratory electrode tests.

Caveats

  • The 253 mAh/g and 5,000-cycle figures are electrode-level results in laboratory coin-cell testing, not commercial full-cell energy density or service life.
  • The cycling protocol included 20 pre-cycles at 0.1 A/g before the 2 A/g long-term test; performance depends on the tested TiO2 material and cell conditions.
  • The article also reports a full-cell configuration, but the electrode-level capacity and cycling result should not be presented as a full-cell metric.

Technology profiles

Sources

  1. peer reviewed paper
    Electrochemically in situ formed rocksalt phase in titanium dioxide determines pseudocapacitive sodium-ion storage
    Dafu Tang, Ruohan Yu, Yalong Jiang et al.. Nature Communications, 27 Feb 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57310-x.

Last reviewed 21 Oct 2026.