Facile Synthesis of Carbon-Encapsulated Li4Ti5O12@C Hollow Microspheres as Superior Anode Materials for Li-Ion Batteries.

An in situ carbon-encapsulating solution route for the synthesis of Li4Ti5O12@C composite hollow microspheres has been developed. The finally obtained Li4Ti5O12@C hollow microspheres possess a microsized spherical shape, embedded Li4Ti5O12 nanocrystals, and fully encapsulating conductive carbon shells, which endow this Li4Ti5O12 anode material with high specific capacity, rate capability, and cycle stability. Owing to their unique microstructure characteristics, these hollow Li4Ti5O12@C microsphere composites are promising anode materials for highly efficient Li-ion batteries with an excellent rate capability (discharge capacity of 169, 152, 130, 116, 93, and 76 mA h g-1 at 0.2, 1, 2, 5, 30 and 60 C, respectively) and a significantly enhanced cycling performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]