Abstract
Ultrafine MoO2 nanorods with a diameter of similar to 5 nm were successfully synthesized by a nanocasting method using mesoporous silica SBA-15 as hard template. This material demonstrates high reversible capacity, excellent cycling performance, and good rate capacity as an anode electrode material for Li ion batteries. The significant enhancement in the electrochemical Li storage performance in ultrafine MoO2 nanorods is attributed to the nanorod structure with small diameter and efficient one-dimensional electron transport pathways. Moreover, density functional theory calculations were performed to elucidate the Li uptake/removal mechanism in the MoO2 electrodes, which can help us understand the unique cycling behavior of MoO2 material.