Facile synthesis of mesoporous lithium titanate spheres for high rate lithium-ion batteries

Lithium titanate is synthesized from titanium isopropoxide and lithium acetate solution under hydrothermal environment and calcinations. Introducing acidized carbon black during synthesis can produce mesoporous Li(4)Ti(5)O(12). The crystalline structure and morphological observation of the as-synthesized mesoporous Li(4)Ti(5)O(12) are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy, respectively. The mesoporous structure can be directly observed through BEI images of the cross-section sample. Besides, N(2) adsorption/desorption isotherm also displays a hysteresis loop, implying the beneficial evidence of mesoporous structure. The pore size distribution of mesoporous lithium titanate evaluated by BJH model is narrow, and the average size of voids is around 4 nm. It is demonstrated that the electrochemical performance is significantly improved by the mesoporous structure. The mesoporous lithium titanate exhibits a stable capacity of 140 mAhg(-1) at 0.5 C. Besides, the reversible capacity at 30 C remains over half of that at 0.5 C. The superior C-rate performance is associated with the mesoporous structure, facilitating lithium transportation ability during cycling. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.