Ti-based materials, such as the anatase TiO₂ and the spinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂, are considered as promising anode materials for the next generation lithium ion batteries. For Ti-based materials, effort has rarely been made to evaluate the potential of the pseudo-brookite MgTi₂O₅ as an anode for lithium and sodium ion batteries because the pristine MgTi₂O₅ did not exhibit satisfactory lithium-ion and sodium-ion storage properties.

In this study, pristine MgTi₂O₅ was synthesized. The carbon-mixed and the carbon-coated methods were applied in order to improve the electrochemical performance and the coated one could deliver the specific capacities of 319, 234, 170, 125 and 78 mAh g^-1 under the current densities of 300, 600, 1500, 3000 and 6000 mA g^-1, which is significantly improvement...[ Read more ]

Ti-based materials, such as the anatase TiO₂ and the spinel Li₄Ti₅O₁₂, are considered as promising anode materials for the next generation lithium ion batteries. For Ti-based materials, effort has rarely been made to evaluate the potential of the pseudo-brookite MgTi₂O₅ as an anode for lithium and sodium ion batteries because the pristine MgTi₂O₅ did not exhibit satisfactory lithium-ion and sodium-ion storage properties.

In this study, pristine MgTi₂O₅ was synthesized. The carbon-mixed and the carbon-coated methods were applied in order to improve the electrochemical performance and the coated one could deliver the specific capacities of 319, 234, 170, 125 and 78 mAh g^-1 under the current densities of 300, 600, 1500, 3000 and 6000 mA g^-1, which is significantly improvement to the pristine one with 175, 140, 93, 60, 36 mAh g^-1 under the same current densities as anode for lithium ion batteries.

The MgTi₂O₅/carbon composite material with the structure of ultra-small MgTi₂O₅ nanoparticles embedded in the carbon rods was also synthesized. Thanks to the synergistic effect of shortened diffusion length and enhanced conductivity, the rate performance of MgTi₂O₅/carbon composite material was significantly improved. As anode of lithium ion batteries, it could deliver 368, 311, 240, 176 and 107 mAh g^-1 under the current densities of 300, 600, 1500, 3000 and 6000 mA g^-1, respectively. For sodium ion batteries, it could deliver discharge capacities of 231, 182, 164, 148, 129, 108 and 88 mAh g^-1 under the current densities of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 2000 mA g^-1, respectively. It also showed an excellent capacity retention of 98% after 500 cycles under a high current density of 2000 mA g^-1 as anode for sodium ion batteries. This study also demonstrates that the decrease in particle size from tens of nanometers to several nanometers and enhancement of conductivity can both be good ways to improve the electrochemical performance of MgTi₂O₅.