Electrochemical activity of rock-salt-structured LiFeO2/Li4/3Ti2/3O2 nanocomposites in lithium cells

α-LiFeO₂ prepared as nanoparticles exhibits substantially increased electrochemical activity in lithium cells. Thus, in the first half-cycle, the nanoferrite provides a capacity close to 70 mAh g⁻¹ (i.e. approximately 0.25 mol lithium ions is deinserted from the lithium ferrite network), which is several times higher than the values for other ferrites. Even higher capacities have been observed for solid solutions of α-LiFeO₂ and rock-salt lithium titanate. In this work, we prepared nanocomposites with improved electroactivity in the first half-cycle. Also, we compared their electrochemical properties with those of nanosized lithium ferrite and lithium titanate. Based on them, explanation for their disparate behaviour involving a protective role of the titanate coating from unwanted reactions with the electrolyte is provided.