Carbon-coated spinel Li4Ti5O12 nanoparticles as an efficient anode for lithium ion battery

Carbon-coated spinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ anode nanoparticles were synthesized. Amorphous carbon-coating on the surface of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ particles with optimized coating thickness is confirmed by analytical characterizations techniques of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Those Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ particles have cubic spinel-type crystal structure with an average size of 50 nm. The electrochemical measurement of those Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ nanoparticles demonstrated an enhanced performance in terms of coulombic efficiency and discharge capacity retention of 170 mAh/g at rate of C/5 after 80 cycles, which was attributed to the increased electron transport and fast lithium-ion insertion/extraction, as a result of uniform amorphous carbon coating.