Double carbon decorated lithium titanate as anode material with high rate performance for lithium-ion batteries

Spinel lithium titanate(Li_4Ti_5O_(12)) has the advantages of structural stability, however it suffers the disadvantages of low lithium-ion diffusion coefficient as well as low conductivity. In order to solve issues,we reported a simple method to prepare carbon-coated Li_4Ti_5O_(12)/CNTs(C@Li_4Ti_5O_(12)/CNTs) using stearic acid as surfactant and carbon source to prepare carbon coated nanosized particles. The obtained Li_4Ti_5O_(12) particles of 100 nm in size are coated with the carbon layers pyrolyzed from stearic acid and dispersed in CNTs matrix homogeneously. These results show that the synthesized C@Li_4Ti_5O_(12)/CNTs material used as anode materials for lithium ion batteries, presenting a better high-rate performance(147 m Ahg~(-1)at20 C). The key factors affecting the high-rate properties of the C@Li_4Ti_5O_(12)/CNTs composite may be related to the synergistic effects of the CNTs matrix and the carbon- coating layers with conductivity enhancement. Additionally, the amorphous carbon coating is an effective route to ameliorate the rate capability of Li_4Ti_5O_(12)/CNTs.