Abstract
Nano-sized spinel lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12) was synthesized using sodium titanate nanotube as precursor via a facile solution ion-exchange method in association with subsequent calcination treatment at relatively low temperature. The influences of precursors, ion-exchange condition, and calcination temperature on the microstructure and electrochemical performance of the products were studied. Results indicate that pure-phase Li4Ti5O12 can be harvested from sodium titanate nanotube precursor through an ion-exchanging at room temperature and calcination at 500 °C. The products exhibit a better performance as Li-ion battery anode material than the counterparts prepared from protonic titanate nanotube (H-titanate) precursor. The reason may lie in that sodium titanate nanotube is easier than protonic titanate nanotube to synthesize lithium titanate without TiO2 impurity, resulting in reduced electron transfer ability and Li-ion transport ability. The capacity of Li4Ti5O12 prepared from sodium titanate nanotube is 146 mAh/g at 10 C, and it has only 0.7 % decay after 200 charge/discharge cycles.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50902045, 20971037 and 21271063), Foundation of Scientific Committee of Henan Province of China (Grant No. 082102270040) and Foundation of Educational Committee of Henan Province of China (Grant No. 2008A150004, 2010GGJS-040).
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Zhang, J., Zhang, F., Li, J. et al. Preparation of Li4Ti5O12 by solution ion-exchange of sodium titanate nanotube and evaluation of electrochemical performance. J Nanopart Res 15, 2005 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-2005-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-2005-7