High-rate Li4Ti5O12/C composites as anode for lithium-ion batteries

The Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/C composites were synthesized by a simple solid-state reaction at 800 °C for 12 h by using Super P® conductive carbon black as carbon source. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ with 0, 5, 7.5, and 10 wt% carbon shows similar patterns with cubic spinel structure. Scanning electron microscope shows that Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ aggregated seriously, but the aggregation was inhibited by the addition of Super P® carbon. The results indicate that the addition of 5 wt% carbon during sintering and a further 5 wt% carbon during slurry preparation shows the best rate capability of 110 mAh/g when the cells were charge/discharged at 10 C rate. The comparison of the charge–discharge curves shows that the higher rate improvement should further decrease the particle size of LTO or improve the conductivity of LTO itself.