Effect of anatase phase on electrochemical properties of the TiO2(B) negative electrode for lithium-ion battery application

The effect of anatase phase in the TiO2(B) powder on the electrochemical performance of negative electrode was investigated. H-titanate was used as a raw material, which was prepared by a hydrothermal process. TiO2 phase was modified with the heat treatment and ball milling process. The fraction of anatase phase was varied to see its effect on the performance. TiO2(B) with less than 1 wt% of anatase phase showed best charge capacity of close to 250 mAh/g with the reversibility of higher than 90.3%. On the other hand, sample with 100 wt% of anatase showed the capacity of about 155.4 mAh/g. However, the sample even with less than 1 wt% of anatase showed not good result when the particles comprising the sample were severely agglomerated. Other than charge–discharge capacity, cyclic stability of the sample with the anatase only showed poor result during early cycles. The sample after 100 cycles showed an increased fraction of anatase phase, ascribed to the gradual decrease of the performance with the cycles. Our current results suggest that the fraction of anatase phase in the TiO2(B) plays an important role to the improvement of electrochemical performance of the electrode.