Lithium titanate hydrates with superfast and stable cycling in lithium ion batteries.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28931813.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-017-00574-9 and PMC identifier 5606990.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Lithium titanate and titanium dioxide are two best-known high-performance electrodes that can cycle around 10,000 times in aprotic lithium ion electrolytes. Here we show there exists more lithium titanate hydrates with superfast and stable cycling. That is, water promotes structural diversity and nanostructuring of compounds, but does not necessarily degrade electrochemical cycling stability or performance in aprotic electrolytes. As a lithium ion battery anode, our multi-phase lithium titanate hydrates show a specific capacity of about 130 mA h g<sup>-1</sup> at ~35 C (fully charged within ~100 s) and sustain more than 10,000 cycles with capacity fade of only 0.001% per cycle. In situ synchrotron diffraction reveals no 2-phase transformations, but a single solid-solution behavior during battery cycling. So instead of just a nanostructured intermediate to be calcined, lithium titanate hydrates can be the desirable final destination.Water is usually not favorable in high-voltage window aprotic electrolytes. Here the authors discover some lithium titanate hydrates that allow superior power rate and ultralong cycle life in aprotic electrolytes.