Tunable Polymer Nanoreactors from RAFT Polymerization-Induced Self-Assembly: Fabrication of Nanostructured Carbon-Coated Anatase as Battery Anode Materials with Variable Morphology and Porosity.

We demonstrate a modular synthesis approach to yield mesoporous carbon-coated anatase (denoted as TiO/C) nanostructures. Combining polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) dispersion polymerization enabled the fabrication of uniform core-shell polymeric nanoreactors with tunable morphologies. The nanoreactors comprised of a poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA) shell and a poly(benzyl methacrylate) (PBzMA) core. We selected worm-like and vesicular morphologies to guide the nanostructuring of a TiO precursor, namely, titanium(IV) (ammonium lactato)dihydroxide (TALH). Subsequent carbonization yielded nanocrystalline anatase and simultaneously introduced a porous carbon framework, which also suppressed the crystal growth (∼5 nm crystallites). The as-prepared TiO/C materials comprised of a porous structure, with large specific surface areas (>85 m/g) and various carbon contents (20-30 wt %). As anode components in lithium-ion batteries, our TiO/C nanomaterials improved the cycling stability, facilitated high overall capacities, and minimized the capacity loss compared to both their carbon and commercial anatase analogues.