Wet‐chemistry synthesis of Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 as anode materials rendering high‐rate Li‐ion storage

Summary Compared with traditional anode materials, spinel‐structured Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO) with “zero‐strain” characteristic offers better cycling stability. In this work, by a wet‐chemistry synthesis method, LTO anode materials have been successfully synthesized by using CH 3 COOLi·2H 2 O and C 16 H 36 O 4 Ti as raw materials. The results show that sintering conditions significantly affect purity, uniformity of particle sizes, and electrochemical properties of as‐prepared LTO materials. The optimized LTO product calcined at 650°C for 20 hours demonstrates small particle sizes and excellent electrochemical performances. It delivers an initial discharge capacity of 242.3 mAh g −1 and remains at 117.4 mAh g −1 over 500 cycles at the current density of 60 mA g −1 in the voltage range of 1.0 to 3.0 V. When current density is increased to 1200 mA g −1 , its discharge capacity reaches 115.6 mAh g −1 at the first cycle and remains at 64.6 mAh g −1 after 2500 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performances of LTO can be attributed to the introduction of rutile TiO 2 phase and small particle sizes, which increases electrical conductivity and electrode kinetics of LTO. Therefore, as‐synthesized LTO in this study can be regarded as a promising anode candidate material for lithium‐ion batteries.