In this paper, we report a one-step and additive-free route for synthesizing hierarchical rutile TiO 2 with mesocrystalline structure. The rutile TiO 2 architecture constructed by oriented tiny nanorod subunits (around 5 nm in diameter) have nano/submicro hierarchical structures, nanoporous nature, a relatively large surface area and high tapped density. When the hierarchical rutile TiO 2 was studied as anode material for Li-ion batteries (LIBs), they exhibited a high reversible capacity of more than 250 mAh g −1 within a voltage window of 1–3 V, superior rate capability and very good cycling stability with 220 mAh g −1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g −1 . It’s notable that the hierarchical rutile TiO 2 exhibited superior Li-ion storage properties under deep cycling conditions (0.01-3.0 V), a stable capacity of 346 mAh g −1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g −1 could be remained. The hierarchical TiO 2 also displayed a large reversible capacity of more than 255 mAh g −1 (average value) at 0.05 A g −1 and good cycling performance for Na-ion insertion. These results, in combination with high volumetric storage capacity, render hierarchical rutile TiO 2 a promising anode material for rechargeable batteries.
Recently, organo-metal halide perovskite (e.g., CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 ) solar cells have shown a significant surge in progress and efficiency. The photovoltaic performance of perovskite solar cells (PSC) extensively depends on the morphology of the materials at nano-level, because the intrinsic electrical, optical and electrochemical properties also change with a change in morphology. Different TiO 2 nanostructures with diverse dimensionalities, 0D hollow TiO 2 nanoparticles (HTNPs), 3D hollow TiO 2 mesospheres (HTMSs) and 3D hierarchical TiO 2 spheres (HTSs) were synthesized hydrothermally. The PSCs based on 3D HTSs or 3D HTMSs as electron transport layers (ETLs) shows better performance than the PSCs fabricated with 0D HTNPs as ETL. The enhanced results can be attributed to the better penetration of the perovskite materials in the porous network of the HTSs or HTMSs and decreased interfacial recombination due to superior charge extraction and electron transport at the HTSs/CH 3 NH 3 PbI or HTMSs/CH 3 NH 3 Pb interfaces. By using a self-assembled TiO 2 compact layer (c-TiO 2 ), followed by a mesoporous layer of HTSs, produces PSCs with an excellent efficiency of 15.08%. Such c-TiO 2 -ETL films may improve PSCs performance by enhancing electron extraction and block the photogenerated holes.