Integrated investigation of the Li4Ti5O12 phase stability

The Li4Ti5O12 is applied in lithium ion batteries as anode material, which can be synthesized by various synthesis techniques. In this study, the molten salt synthesis technique at low temperatures, i.e. 350 °C, was applied to synthesize Li4Ti5O12. Surprisingly, the Li4Ti5O12 was not formed according to XRD analysis, which raised question about the stability range of Li4Ti5O12. To investigate the stability of Li4Ti5O12 at low temperatures, the high-temperature calcined Li4Ti5O12 powder was equilibrated in the LiCl-KCl eutectic salt at 350 °C. The result of experiment revealed that the Li4Ti5O12 is not decomposed. Results of ab initio calculations also indicated that the Li4Ti5O12 phase is a stable phase at 0 K. The products of molten salt synthesis technique were then annealed at 900 °C, which resulted in the Li4Ti5O12 formation. It was concluded that the Li4Ti5O12 is a stable phase at low temperatures and the reasons for not forming the Li4Ti5O12 by molten salt technique at low temperature are possibly related to activation energy and kinetic barriers. The Li4Ti5O12 formation energy is also very small, due to the results of ab initio calculations.