Lithium titanate decorated natural graphite anode with improved rate and cycle performance for Li-ion batteries

Nano-sized spinel lithium titanate (Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 , LTO) particles are homogeneously decorated on natural graphite (NG) granulates via a sol-gel method followed by thermal pyrolysis, forming NG-LTO composite materials. The LTO-modified NG anode demonstrate improved rate and cycle performance as anode materials of Li-ion batteries. Specifically, at a current rate of about 8 C (3 A g −1 ), the optimized NG-LTO composite anode displays a specific capacity of 97.5 mAh g −1 , and after 300 charge-discharge cycles at a current rate of 0.5 A g −1 , the capacity retention ratio is also enhanced referring to the pristine NG anode. The “zero-strain” effect and fast Li ion diffusion feature of LTO, and also its current sharing effect brought out by its high voltage plateau might have resulted in the improved electrochemical properties of NG-LTO composite anodes. These findings convincingly indicate that surface decoration of nano-LTO may provide a practical and feasible strategy for enhancing the rate and cycling performance of NG anode, promising for Li-ion batteries with fast-charging and long term cycling stability.