Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ Coated with Ultrathin Aluminum-Doped Zinc Oxide Films as an Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) films were coated on the surface of Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) particles via atomic layer deposition (ALD) in a fluidized bed reactor. The electrochemical characterization results indicated that the coating of AZO significantly improved the electrochemical performance of LTO between 0.1 V and 3.0 V with a proper coating thickness. Among all AZO-coated LTO samples, 250-10AZO (nine cycles of ZnO ALD followed by one cycle of Al2O3 ALD at a deposition temperature of 250 °C) showed the best performance. After 250 cycles of charge/discharge at a 1 C rate (1 C = 175 mA g-1), the capacity decreased from 203 to 190 mAh g-1 with a capacity retention of ~94% at room temperature and from 224 to 216 mAh g-1 with a capacity retention of ~96% at 55 °C. The AZO coating layer with an appropriate thickness not only increased the capacity of LTO by enhancing conductivity, but also assisted the LTO electrodes to form a beneficial interface layer to protect the LTO from the continuous attack by harmful components in the electrolyte, especially under extreme conditions, such as high temperature and high current rates.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Research Center/Lab(s)

Center for Research in Energy and Environment (CREE)

Comments

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, United States [grant NSF DMR 1464111 ].

Keywords and Phrases

Aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO); Anode; Atomic layer deposition (ALD); Li4Ti5O12; Lithium-ion battery

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0378-7753

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2019 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Oct 2019

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