Optimizing the performance of Li4Ti5O12 anode synthesized from TiO2 xerogel and LiOH with hydrothermal-ball mill method by using acetylene black

Abstract

Optimizing the Li-ion Batteries performance using Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) as anode material by addition of using Acetylene Black was studied in this research. The LTO was successfully synthesized using sol-gel method to form TiO2 xerogel continued by calcination, hydrothermal, ball milling and sintering process. XRD (X-Ray Diffraction), scanning electron microscopy-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) was performed to identify the characteristic of Li4Ti5O12 powder likes phase, morphology, chemical composition and surface area. Spinel Li4Ti5O12 and rutile TiO2 were detected in XRD patterns. The morphology of Li4Ti5O12 shows presence of agglomerates structure. The surface area of Li4Ti5O12 powder is 6.404 m2/g. Electrode sheet then be prepared with LTO and mixed with PVDF binder (5 wt%) and AB 5 wt% (LTO-1), 10 wt% PVDF binder and 10wt% AB (LTO-2), 15 wt% PVDF binder and 15 wt% AB (LTO-3) of total weight solid content. Half-cell coin battery was made with lithium counter electrode. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and Charge-discharge (CD) test were performed to examine the performance of Li-ion Batteries. The best result was obtained in LTO-2, due to lowest resistance (27 ohm) and highest initial capacity (146.82 mAh/g). The increasing of AB content affects the rate capability of battery. It can be seen by CD test, where the LTO HT2-AC 1.5 has better rate capability then LTO-2 and LTO-1. LTO-3 has 24% of initial capacity at 10C, when LTO-2 has 21% of initial capacity at 10C, and LTO-1 has no capacity at 10C. It is proved that increasing AB content could lead to rate-capability and cycling performance improvement which reached at the optimum value in the LTO-2.