Design and synthesis of a novel nanothorn VO2(B) hollow microsphere and their application in lithium-ion batteries

3D hollow VO2(B) micro-spheres have been fabricated by using the hydrothermal method. The obtained VO2(B) hollow spheres were built up from well-defined VO2(B) nanothorn single-crystals, of which were perpendicularly parked on the sphere surface. When this hollow spheres was used as the cathode material for a lithium-ion battery, it exhibited good electrochemical properties, and its initial discharge capacity is ca. 450 mA h g(-1) when recorded at the current density of 10 mA g(-1). Furthermore, when recorded at 50 mA g(-1), it still delivered 195 mA h g(-1) in the first cycle of discharge capacity, and after 50 cycles, it did not show any capacity fading. The results described in the present work may open up another way for the design of novel nanostructured materials for various applications.