Facile preparation of nanocrystalline Li4Ti5O12 and its high electrochemical performance as anode material for lithium-ion batteries

We report a facile approach for synthesizing nanocrystalline Li4Ti5O12 via sol-gel process by employing a nonionic surfactant (EO)20(PO)70(EO)20 tri-block copolymer (pluronic P123) as the chelating agent. Pure-phase Li4Ti5O12 (similar to 100 nm) with high crystallinity is obtained at a sintering temperature of 700 degrees C. The cell assembled with this nanocrystalline Li4Ti5O12 presents high-rate capacity of 108 mAh g(-1) at 40 C. Furthermore, the cell exhibits excellent cycling stability, retaining over 97 % of its initial capacity after 250 charge/discharge cycles at varying rates. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.