Advanced Functional Materials, Vol.24, No.27, 4349-4356, 2014
Lithium Titanate Tailored by Cathodically Induced Graphene for an Ultrafast Lithium Ion Battery
Nonoxidative cathodically induced graphene (CIG) here incorporates conductive agents for Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) anode materials. The tailored LTO/CIG composite is fabricated by controlled hydrolysis of tetrabutyl titanate in the presence of nonoxidative defect-free cathodically induced graphene (CIG) and oxalic acid in a mixed solvent of ethanol and water, followed by hydrothermal reaction and a calcination treatment. Due to the introduction of defect-free graphene, the resulting LTO/CIG composite shows an excellent electrical conductivity (1.2 x 10(-4) S cm(-1)) and Li+ diffusion coefficient (1.61 x 10(-12) cm(2) s(-1)). As a result, the tuned LTO/CIG composite exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance, including excellent cycling stability (the capacity retention ratios after 500 cycles at 0.5 C is 96.2%) and a remarkable rate capability (162 mAh g(-1) at 10 C, 126 mAh g(-1) at 100 C). A specific energy of 272 Wh kg(-1) at power of 136 W kg(-1) is observed when cycling against Li-foil. Even during 36 s of charge/discharge, the specific energy of LTO/CIG composite remains at 166 Wh kg(-1)