Titanium based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

In this research, lithium-ion batteries based on titanium dioxide (TiO2) and lithium titanate (LTO) nano-sized anodes were fabricated, and their electrochemical performance was studied. This thesis includes the following three parts: (1) The synthesis of superfine TiO2 nanoparticles, and the one-step carbon-coating process was successfully developed. The grain size of the TiO2 particles was about 50 nm. The results of electrochemical tests illustrated that the carbon-coating process could effectively improve the conductivity of TiO2 powder, but it generated amorphous phases. (2) TiO2 nanowires were successfully synthesized, and their average diameter was about 100 nm. To increase the conductivity of the TiO2 nanowires, glucose was mixed with TiO2 nanowires as precursors to form carbon coating on the nanowires. The batteries tests were carried out on pristine and carbon assisted samples. (3) LTO and TiO2 dual-phase nanowires were synthesized through a hydrothermal process. The composites with different ratios between two compounds were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). To electrochemically test different composite samples, batteries tests were employed. This work opens up a new insight into the potential applications of titanium-based nanomaterials on lithium-ion batteries.