Introducing Oxygen Vacancies in Li4Ti5O12 via Hydrogen Reduction for High-Power Lithium-Ion Batteries

Li4Ti5O12 (LTO), known as a zero-strain material, is widely studied as the anode material for lithium-ion batteries owing to its high safety and long cycling stability. However, its low electronic conductivity and Li diffusion coefficient significantly deteriorate its high-rate performance. In this work, we proposed a facile approach to introduce oxygen vacancies into the commercialized LTO via thermal treatment under Ar/H-2 (5%). The oxygen vacancy-containing LTO demonstrates much better performance than the sample before H-2 treatment, especially at high current rates. Density functional theory calculation results suggest that increasing oxygen vacancy concentration could enhance the electronic conductivity and lower the diffusion barrier of Li+, giving rise to a fast electrochemical kinetic process and thus improved high-rate performance.

Automated summary

Introducing oxygen vacancies into commercialized LTO through thermal treatment under Ar/H-2 (5%) can enhance its electronic conductivity and Li+ diffusion speed, leading to improved high-rate performance in lithium-ion batteries.