Rapid synthesis of lithium titanate as an anode material

Abstract

The formation of Li4Ti5O12 for the use as an anode material is vital since spinel LTO is a zero-strain anode material, making it relatively safe when used in Lithium ion batteries. In the hydrothermal synthesis of this compound long durations are necessary to prevent the formation of impurities. In this study the use of high temperature for a short duration is investigated to synthesise LTO. LiOH is used as the Li-source in this study, and Li4Ti5O12 is obtained after 3 hours of hydrothermal treatment followed by annealing at 850 °C for an additional 3 hours. The specific capacity of the LTO obtained was 89.3 mAh g−1. The use of a shorter duration may be beneficial for the mass production of the compound as a potential replacement of graphite as an anode material.