Highly-crystalline ultrathin Li4Ti5O12 nanosheets decorated with silver nanocrystals as a high-performance anode material for lithium ion batteries

• A novel composite of ultrathin Li4Ti5O12 nanosheets and Ag nanocrystals is prepared.
• The LTO nanosheets have single-crystal nature with a thickness of about 10 nm.
• The composite shows low polarization of the voltage difference.
• The composite has high electrical conductivity and large Li+ diffusion coefficient.
• The composite demonstrates superior lithium storage performance.

A novel composite of highly-crystalline ultrathin Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) nanosheets and Ag nanocrystals (denoted as LTO NSs/Ag) as an anode material for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) is prepared by hydrothermal synthesis, post calcination and electroless deposition. The characterizations of structure and morphology reveal that the LTO nanosheets have single-crystal nature with a thickness of about 10 nm and highly dispersed Ag nanocrystals have an average diameter of 5.8 nm. The designed LTO NSs/Ag composite takes advantage of both components, thereby providing large contact area between the electrolyte and electrode, low polarization of voltage difference, high electrical conductivity and lithium ion diffusion coefficient during electrochemical processes. The evaluation of its electrochemical performance demonstrates that the prepared LTO NSs/Ag composite has superior lithium storage performance. More importantly, this unique composite has an ability to deliver high reversible capacities with superlative cyclic capacity retention at different current rates, and exhibit excellent high-rate performance at a current rate as high as 30 C. Our results improve the current performance of LTO based anode material for LIBs.