Li4Ti5O12/Co3O4 Composite for Improved Performance in Lithium-Ion Batteries

To take advantage of the best properties of both LTO and Co3O4, Li4Ti5O12/Co3O4 composites were synthesized by the solution combustion and solution precipitation methods. The diffraction patterns of Li4Ti5O12 (LTO), Co3O4, and LTO/Co3O4 composites were well-indexed as a cubic spinel structure with the Fd-3m space group. As shown in the FE-SEM images, the Co3O4 particles are attached on the surface of LTO, especially in the pore, and this structure is expected to prevent volume expansion and particle aggregation of Co3O4 particles. As expected, the LTO/Co3O4 composite had higher eapacity than that of LTO, with a decreased slope and an extended plateau region over the voltage range of 0.01-3.0 V. LTO/Co3O4-20 delivered a reversible discharge capacity of 300 mAh g(-1) at a constant current density of 160 mA g. Also, it exhibited only a slight capacity drop with increasing current density. Galvanostatic intermittent titration technique and X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy were also conducted to investigate the characteristics of LTO/Co3O4-20. (C) The Author(s) 2015. Published by ECS. All rights reserved.