High performance carbon-coated lithium zinc titanate as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries

•Li2ZnTi3O8/C has been firstly synthesized using β-cyclodextrin as carbon source.•Effects of carbon content on the performance of Li2ZnTi3O8 are extensively studied.•Li2ZnTi3O8/C delivers large capacities and presents good high-rate capability.

Carbon-coated Li2ZnTi3O8 (Li2ZnTi3O8/C) anodes have been successfully synthesized using β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) as the carbon source. The effects of carbon content on the structures and physicochemical properties of the Li2ZnTi3O8/C materials are also studied in detail. It is found that the Li2ZnTi3O8 particles are nano-sized and well disperse into the carbon networks. The carbon coating greatly enhances the electrochemical performance of Li2ZnTi3O8. Li2ZnTi3O8/C-2 with the carbon content of 6.85% shows large specific capacities and good cyclic performance at high current densities. The largest capacities of 169.1, 162.4 and 150.3 mAh g−1 are delivered at 3, 4 and 5 A g−1, respectively. Cycling for 100 cycles, 160.5, 139.7 and 129.1 mAh g−1 are kept for the sample at the three current densities mentioned above, respectively. The good electrochemical performance of the Li2ZnTi3O8/C-2 can be attributed to the good crystallinity, proper carbon content, large pore size, small particle size and low charge-transfer resistance.