This
study designates the outcomes of niobium doping and carbon
coating on the structural and electrochemical performance of Li2ZnTi3O8 as an anode electrode for use
in Li-ion batteries. Nb-doped, carbon-coated Li2ZnTi2.95Nb0.05O8/C (LZTO-2) and pristine
Li2ZnTi3O8 (LZTO-1) anode materials
were synthesized using facile sonication-assisted solid-state synthesis
using sucrose as the carbon source. The synthesized materials are
characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
Electrochemical investigations are carried out using galvanostatic
cycling, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
(EIS). Structural analysis shows that the synthesized materials crystallize
in the P4332 space group. It is observed
through these studies that Nb doping (5%) and carbon (10%) coating
have improved significantly the electrochemical performance of the
(LZTO-2) as compared to (LZTO-1). LZTO-2 exhibits excellent cyclic
performance and specific capacity (mA h g–1) at
all C-rates. The excellent specific capacity of LZTO-2 at higher C-rates
(5C, 10C, 20C, and 30C), i.e., 156, 135, 113, and 77 mA h g–1, respectively, as compared to LZTO-1, i.e., 127, 89, 48, and 26
mA h g–1, respectively, can be attributed to low
charge transfer resistance resulting from having the proper amount
of dopant and carbon content. Higher specific capacities, low charge
transfer resistance, and higher values of Li-ion diffusion coefficient
indicate that LZTO-2 is a magnificent anode electrode for commercial
Li-ion batteries.
