In this article, we employed nitrogen gas treatment as an effective strategy in caclination to significantly improve the performance of hierarchical macro-/mesoprous TiO2 as anode materials for lithium ion batteries at an elevated temperature of 55 degrees C. Room-temperature synthesized macro-/mesoprous TiO2 was calcined under nitrogen and air conditions at 300 degrees C for 3 h, respectively. The specific surface area was studied by nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement and the surface chemistry was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that the macro-/mesoprous TiO2 had a specific surface area of 330 m(2) g(-1) after calcination under nitrogen atmosphere, while only 248 m(2) g(-1) after calcination under air atmosphere. Electrochemical tests showed that, in comparison to air-treated TiO2, nitrogen-treated TiO2 exhibited considerable high capacity and good rate performance as a lithium ion battery anode at the elevated temperature (55 degrees C). It had a capacity of 293 mAhg(-1) after 50 cycles at mixed current densities of 30, 150, and 500 mA g(-1), while the air-treated TiO2 only had a capacity of 187 mAhg(-1) after 50 cycles. This improvement of lithium ion storage capability can be ascribed to the nitrogen-treatment effect on crystallinity and the presence of surface defects on TiO2 nanostructure. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.