Excess capacity on compound phases of Li2FeTiO4 composite cathode materials synthesized by hydrothermal reaction using optional titanium sources to boost battery performance

Li₂FeTiO₄ composites have been produced using commercial LiAC, FeCl₂ and different titanium sources by hydrothermal synthesis (HS) at 175 °C and subsequent annealing at 700 °C. Impure phase TiO₂, Fe₂O₃ and FeTiO₄ were detected out among the Li₂FeTiO₄ composites with different titanium sources. Micron and nano-sized particles of Li₂FeTiO₄ were prepared from various titanium raw materials, with nano-sized particles predominating when titanium raw materials were layered hydrogen titanate nanowire (H₂Ti₃O₇NW, HTO-NW) and titanium oxide nanotubes (TiO₂NB). The Li₂FeTiO₄ composites synthesized by HTO-NW shows a primary particle size of 50−200 nm of high crystallinity staggered with undissolved nanowire with a diameter size of about 100 nm. The samples using one-dimensional nanometer titanium oxide (TiO₂ NB) as the raw material can get a super high initial discharge capacity of 367.8 mAh/g at the rate of C/10 and excellent cycling stability. The selection of raw materials and adopting multi-phase modification can be considered as an effective strategy to improve the electro-chemical properties of Li₂FeTiO₄ composite cathode materials for the lithium secondary battery.