Carbon-coated Li4Ti5O12 tablets derived from metal-organic frameworks as anode material for lithium-ion batteries

Carbon-coated Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 composites (LTO/C) with tablet-like morphology are firstly in-situ synthesized from lithium-doped Ti-based metal-organic framework precursor by thermal annealing in N 2 atmosphere at 800 and 900 °C, denoted as LTO/C-800 and LTO/C-900, respectively. The TEM and TG results demonstrate that LTO is embedded in carbon uniformly and LTO/C-800 presents more carbon content than LTO/C-900. The electrochemical results show that the LTO/C electrodes deliver a high reversible capacity, high-rate performance and excellent cycling stability as lithium-ion battery anodes. At the current density of 500 mA g −1 , the reversible capacities of LTO/C-900 and LTO/C-800 are 277 and 223 mA h g −1 after 700 cycles, respectively. At 1000 and 2000 mA g −1 , the reversible capacities of LTO/C-900 and LTO/C-800 can reach 181, 150 mA h g −1 and 174, 88 mA h g −1 after 1000 cycles with no attenuation, respectively. The facile and economical synthesis strategy will extend the scope of lithium-doped MOFs synthesis for other materials in energy storage application.