Copper-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/carbon nanofiber composites as anode for high-performance sodium-ion batteries

By Ge, Yeqian; Jiang, Han; Fu, Kun; Zhang, Changhuan; Zhu, Jiadeng; Chen, Chen; Lu, Yao; Qiu, Yiping & Zhang, Xiangwu
Published in Journal of Power Sources NULL 2014

Abstract

Lithium titanium oxide (Li₄Ti₅O₁₂) is a promising anode material, owing to its superior safety and reliability. However, the main challenge of Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ is the low material conductivity which restricts its electrochemical performance. In order to use Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ in practical sodium-ion batteries, copper-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (Li₄₋ₓCuₓTi5O12, x = 0, 0.05, 0.1) nanoparticles were prepared to enhance the electronic conductivity. Copper-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ nanoparticles were then embedded in continuous carbon nanofibers (CNFs), which gave rise to fast electron transfer along the fiber direction. After copper-doping and CNF embedding, the resultant copper-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/CNFs achieved excellent reversible capacity (158.1 mAh g⁻¹) at 30 mA g⁻¹, high coulombic efficiency (99.87%), and good capacity retention (91%) after 150 cycles. In addition, copper-doped Li₄Ti5O12/CNFs also exhibited good rate capability. It is, therefore, demonstrated that copper-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂/CNFs are promising anode candidate.

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