Fig. 2: Fabrication, microstructure analysis and lithiation simulation of the TNO-x@N composite.

a Schematic diagram of the synthesis process of TNO-x@N. b Powder XRD and Refined XRD. c Nb K-edge XANES of Nb foil, TNO, and TNO-x@N. d TEM image of TNO-x@N (the inset demonstrates the 3D image of TNO-x@N by Nano-CT technology). e HR-TEM image of TNO-x@N. f Aberration-corrected STEM-HADDF image of the TNO-x@N. g Oxygen defect analysis with ABF image of the TNO-x@N. h Atomic-resolution EDS mappings of the TNO-x@N. i, j Finite element simulation models of Li+ concentration of solid sphere (I) and microflowers (j) for different lithiation states at the current density of 5 C. k, I Evolution of Li+ concentration in the solid sphere (k) and microflowers (l).