In situ growth of Li4Ti5O12 nanoparticles on Ti3C2Tx MXene for efficient electron transfer as high-rate anode of Li ion battery

Abstract

How to prepare monodispersed Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) nanoparticles and build effective interface with conductive matrix are significant for its high-rate performance, but still big challenges to be fulfilled well now. Herein, we successfully prepared monodispersed LTO nanoparticles on Ti3C2Tx MXene (M-LTO) in situ through a natural oxidation and hydrothermal lithiation process. The mild oxidation and proper LiOH concentration are proved critical to control the states of final products. Oriented growth was found between LTO and Ti3C2Tx MXene, i.e., LTO [110]//Ti3C2Tx [001], indicating the presence of in-situ interface. It is very effective to facilitates the electron transfer between collector/LTO interface, which exhibited low electron polarization resistance, and helped M-LTO samples achieve higher capacity retention than LTO-Ti3C2Tx mixture and pure LTO. Typically, M-LTO-8 sample delivered a reversible capacity of 137 mAh g−1 at 10 C and over 125 mAh g−1 at a high rate of 50 C, with a capacity retention of 87.5% after 1000 cycles at 10 C. This work highlighted the in-situ oriented growth of LTO from Ti3C2Tx MXene, revealed its advantage for high-rate performance, and provided new insights for high-rate electrode design.