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Li4Ti5O12 is considered as a safe and stable anode material for high-power lithium-ion batteries due to its “zero-strain” characteristic during the charge/discharge. However, the intrinsically low electronic conductivity leads to a deterioration in high-rate performance, impeding its intensive application. Herein, the Li4Ti5O12/rutile TiO2 (LTO/RT) heterostructured nanorods with tunable oxide phases have been in-situ fabricated by annealing the electrospun nanofiber precursor. By constructing such a heterostructured interface, the as-prepared sample delivers a high capacity of 160.3 mAh·g–1 at 1 C after 200 cycles, 125.5 mAh·g–1 at 10 C after 500 cycles and a superior capacity retention of 90.3% after 1,000 cycles at 30 C, outperforming the heterostructure-free counterparts of pure LTO, RT and the commercial LTO product. Density Functional Theory calculation suggests a possible synergistic effect of the LTO/RT interface that would improve the electronic conductivity and Li-ion diffusion.


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In-situ construction of Li4Ti5O12/rutile TiO2 heterostructured nanorods for robust and high-power lithium storage

Show Author's information Yiguang Zhou1Shuhao Xiao1Jinxia Jiang2( )Rui Wu1Xiaobin Niu1Jun Song Chen1,3,4( )
School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College, Chongqing 401331, China
Institute for Advanced Study, Chengdu University, Chengdu 610106, China
Shenzhen Institute for Advanced Study, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen 518110, China

Abstract

Li4Ti5O12 is considered as a safe and stable anode material for high-power lithium-ion batteries due to its “zero-strain” characteristic during the charge/discharge. However, the intrinsically low electronic conductivity leads to a deterioration in high-rate performance, impeding its intensive application. Herein, the Li4Ti5O12/rutile TiO2 (LTO/RT) heterostructured nanorods with tunable oxide phases have been in-situ fabricated by annealing the electrospun nanofiber precursor. By constructing such a heterostructured interface, the as-prepared sample delivers a high capacity of 160.3 mAh·g–1 at 1 C after 200 cycles, 125.5 mAh·g–1 at 10 C after 500 cycles and a superior capacity retention of 90.3% after 1,000 cycles at 30 C, outperforming the heterostructure-free counterparts of pure LTO, RT and the commercial LTO product. Density Functional Theory calculation suggests a possible synergistic effect of the LTO/RT interface that would improve the electronic conductivity and Li-ion diffusion.

Keywords: density functional theory, heterostructure, nanorods, lithium storage, Li4Ti5O12/rutile TiO2

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 15 May 2022
Revised: 05 June 2022
Accepted: 26 June 2022
Published: 08 July 2022
Issue date: January 2023

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© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2021YFB2401900).

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