In-situ synthesis of nano-Li4Ti5O12/C composite as an anode material for Li-ion batteries

•In-situ synthesis of nano-Li4Ti5O12/C composite using PVP as carbon source by a solid-state reaction.•A thin and homogeneous carbons layer, as well as the limited particle size is achieved.•The carbon-coated Li4Ti5O12 exhibits high rate performance.

In-situ coating approach using polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as carbon source is introduced in this work with the aim of getting high rate Li4Ti5O12/C composite. Li4Ti5O12/C composite, particle size of 50–200 nm in diameter, is well dispersed and the carbon layers are 2–4 nm in thickness. Li4Ti5O12/C composite delivers much higher electrochemical performance than Li4Ti5O12, in terms of reversible discharge capacity and rate performance. It exhibits high discharge capacities of 172 mAh g− 1 and 141 mAh g− 1 at 0.2 C and 10 C-rate, respectively. 95.7% of its initial capacity is retained after 200 cycles at 10 C, demonstrating good cycling stability.