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Carbon-coated lithium titanate: effect of carbon precursor addition processes on the electrochemical performance

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Abstract

In this paper, two carbon-coated lithium titanate (LTO-C1 and LTO-C2) composites were synthesized using the ball-milling-assisted calcination method with different carbon precursor addition processes. The physical and electrochemical properties of the as-synthesized negative electrode materials were characterized to investigate the effects of two carbon-coated LTO synthesis processes on the electrochemical performance of LTO. The results show that the LTO-C2 synthesized by using Li2CO3 and TiO2 as the raw materials and sucrose as the carbon source in a one-pot method has less polarization during lithium insertion and extraction, minimal charge transfer impedance value and the best electrochemical performance among all samples. At the current density of 300 mA·h·g−1, the LTO-C2 composite delivers a charge capacity of 126.9 mA·h·g−1, and the reversible capacity after 300 cycles exceeds 121.3 mA·h·g−1 in the voltage range of 1.0–3.0 V. Furthermore, the electrochemical impedance spectra show that LTO-C2 has higher electronic conductivity and lithium diffusion coefficient, which indicates the advantages in electrode kinetics over LTO and LTO-C1. The results clarify the best electrochemical properties of the carbon-coated LTO-C2 composite prepared by the one-pot method.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Environment, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243002, China

    Shilei Ding, Zelong Jiang, Jiajia Cai & Dongdong Wang

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243002, China

    Jing Gu

  3. Analysis and Testing Central Facility, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243002, China

    Hongliang Zhang

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  1. Shilei Ding
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  2. Zelong Jiang
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Correspondence to Shilei Ding.

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Ding, S., Jiang, Z., Gu, J. et al. Carbon-coated lithium titanate: effect of carbon precursor addition processes on the electrochemical performance. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 15, 148–155 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-020-2022-x

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