Novel Lithium Titanate for High Power Applications

Abstract

The spinel phase LTO is considered to be one of the most promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Firstly, it is the so-called zero-strain material, enabling an extremely long cycle life and excellent capacity retention. Secondly, there is no Solid Electrolyte Interface layer formation on LTO during cycling, leading to enhanced safety, long cycle life and high charge/discharge capability over a wide temperature range. Thirdly, there is no Li dendrite formation during cycling, which largely improves the battery safety. The issues of this material are associated with its low energy density and low electronic conductivity. To tackle these, we have developed a novel type of LTO material with improved electronic conductivity and energy density that is extremely useful in high power applications such as EV/HEV/PHEV, and renewable energy applications such as wind smoothing. If estimated in a full battery, the improvement on energy density is approximately 6%.