Facile Solution Route to Synthesize Nanostructure Li₄Ti₅O₁₂for High Rate Li-Ion Battery

High rate Li-ion batteries have been given great attention during the last decade as a power source for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs, EVs, etc.) due to the highest energy and power density. These lithium batteries required a new design of material structure as well as innovative electrode materials. Among the promising candidates, spinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂has been proposed as a high rate anode to replace graphite anode because of high capacity and a negligible structure change during intercalation of lithium. In this work, we synthesized a spinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂in nanosize by a solution route using LiOH and Ti(OBu)₄as precursor. An evaluation of structure and morphology by XRD and SEM exhibited pure spinel phase Li₄Ti₅O₁₂and homogenous nanoparticles around 100 nm. In the charge-discharge test, nanospinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂presents excellent discharge capacity 160 mAh/g at rate C/10, as well as good specific capacities of 120, 110, and 100 mAh/g at high rates C, 5C and 10C, respectively.