LAUSR

Vanadium oxides (VOx) show potential in Li-ion batteries (LIBs) originating from their abundance, low cost, and high theoretical capacities. Although V2O3 exhibits a high theoretical capacity of 1070 mAh g–1, most of the current reported for V2O3-based anodes suffer from poor electrical conductivity and huge volume change upon cycling in practice. Herein, an urchin-like V2O3/C hybrid composed of 1D nanofibers (a length-to-diameter ratio of 4) and hollow nanospheres (a diameter of 200–300 nm) has been synthesized via a template-free solvothermal method combined with a carbothermal reduction strategy. Both the nanofibers and hollow nanospheres consist of carbon-coated V2O3 nanostructures. During the solvothermal process, glucose plays not only as the carbon resource but also as the structural direction agent of nanosphere structures, and the formation of 1D V2O3 nanofibers is attributed to the epitaxial growth of V2O3 nanoparticles on the outer surface of nanosheets. When applied as an LIB anode, the hybrid...