Microwave irradiation enhanced electronic conductivity and Li+ diffusion coefficient in spinel Li ₄ Ti ₅ O ₁₂ anode material for lithium-ion batteries Aderemi B. Haruna , Kenneth I. Ozoemena Molecular Sciences Institute, School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Low electronic conductivity and Li + diffusion coefficient are the key challenges to the practical application of Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO) as anode material for lithium-ion batteries. In this work, the application of microwave irradiation to enhance the limiting low electronic conductivity and Li + diffusion coefficient in pristine LTO (LTO-p) materials and improve the electrochemistry of lithium-ion batteries has been studied. Relative to the pristine (LTO-p), microwave irradiation increased the electronic conductivity and Li + diffusion coefficient. To establish the underlying science behind the impact of microwave irradiation, both the pristine (LTO-p) and the microwave-treated counterpart (LTO-m) are subjected to several characterization techniques, including XRD, XPS, Raman and BET analysis. These techniques prove that LTO-m possesses the needed physico-chemical properties that explain: i) increased the electronic conductivity (such as an increased Ti 3+ ), and ii) improved electrochemical performance (such as increased lattice parameter, enhanced BET surface area, increased specific discharge capacity, electronic and Li-ion transfer kinetics, and Coulombic efficiency). Microwave irradiation improves the specific capacity by about 15% and capacity retention (0.0029% capacity loss per cycle for the LMO-m, 0.030% capacity loss per cycle for LMO-p for 500 cycles at 5C). The findings in this work are relevant for the realization of low-cost and safe scale- up modification processes for LTO spinel and related anode materials for the development of high-performance lithium-ion batteries. References 1. S. Li, K. Wang, G. Zhang, S. Li, Y. Xu, X. Zhang, X. Zhang, S. Zheng, X. Sun, and Y. Ma, Adv. Funct. Mater. 2022, 32 , 2200796. 2. L. Wang, Y. Zhang, H. Guo, J. Li, E. Stach, X. Tong, E. S. Takeuchi, K. J. Takeuchi, P. Liu, A. C. Marschilok, and S. S. Wong, Chem. Mater. 2018, 30 , 671−684. 3. P. Zhang, M. Chen, X. Shen, Q. Wu, X. Zhang, L. Huan and G. Diao, Electrochimica Acta 2016, 204 , 92–99.
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