Easy hydrothermal synthesis of multi-shelled La₂O₃ hollow spheres for lithium-ion batteries

Herein, uniform triple-shelled La₂O₃ hollow spheres were synthesized for the first time by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method capable of controlling the number of internal thin-shells, which can be achieved by controlling the calcination temperature. Used as anodes for Li-ion batteries, the triple-shelled La₂O₃ hollow spheres show excellent cycling performance, good rate capacity, and high specific capacity. A superior capacity, up to 108 mAh g⁻¹ with minimal irreversible capacity after 100 cycles is achieved at a current rate of 100 mA g⁻¹. After the high-rate charge–discharge cycling, a specific discharge capacity as high as 190.1 mAh g⁻¹ can be restored when the current density is reduced to 50 mA g⁻¹ (theoretical specific capacity = 246.8 mAh g⁻¹).