Surfactant-free nonaqueous synthesis of Lithium Titanium Oxide (LTO) nanostructures for lithium ion battery applications

A one-pot template-free solvothermal synthesis of crystalline Li ₄Ti₅O₁₂ nanostructures based on the "benzyl alcohol route" is introduced. The 1-2 μm sized nanostructured spherical particles are constituted of nanocrystallites in the size range of a few nm. This is the first report showing that crystalline Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ can be directly obtained by soft chemistry solution routes. The as-synthesized crystalline nanostructures show good lithium intercalation/deintercalation performances at high rates (up to 30 C) and good cycling stabilities. Annealing the nanostructures at 750 °C improves the performance, which approaches the theoretical capacity of Li ₄Ti₅O₁₂ with no noticeable (less than 5%) capacity loss after 200 cycles.