Nitrogen-doped carbon coated Li4Ti5O12-TiO2/Sn nanowires and their enhanced electrochemical properties for lithium ion batteries

Li-Ti-O system materials have been intensively investigated due to their outstanding rate performance and cycling stability for lithium ion batteries. However, poor electronic conductivity and low theoretical capacity restrict their practical application. In this paper, we fabricated Li4Ti5O12-TiO2/Sn nanowires embedded in a N-doped carbon network via a simple heterostructured growth process. Not only can the novel composites illustrate the synergistic effect of the structural stability of 1D Li4Ti5O12-TiO2 substrates and high capacity of Sn, but the N-doped porous carbon network also can improve the conductive and ion diffusion improvement together with aggregation prevention. Therefore, the novel nanocomposites show an initial discharge capacity of 964 mA h g(-1) and a capacity retention of about 360 mA h g(-1) after 600 cycles at a high current rate of 1000 mA g(-1), which makes them a promising anode material for lithium ion batteries.