Suppression of interfacial reactions between Li4Ti5O12 electrode and electrolyte solution via zinc oxide coating

•A ZnO coating layer was constructed on the LTO particles by a chemical process as a barrier layer between LTO and surrounding electrolyte solution.•The ZnO coating can effectively stabilize the electrode/electrolyte interface and suppress interfacial reactions between LTO and electrolyte solution.•The ZnO coating can improve the electronic conductivity and lithium ion diffusion coefficient, which contributes to a great improvement in cyclic and high rate capabilities of LTO electrode.•The ZnO coating on LTO may be an effective method to solve the gassing behavior of LTO based battery and promote its wide application in lithium ion power battery.

Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) based batteries have severe gassing behavior during charge/discharge and storage process. The interfacial reactions between LTO and electrolyte solution may be the main reason. In this work, the LTO spinel particles are modified with ZnO coating using a chemical process to reduce the surface reactivity of LTO particles. Results show that the ZnO coating can effectively stabilize the electrode/electrolyte interface and suppress the formation of a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film. Simultaneously, this ZnO modification can improve the electronic conductivity and lithium ion diffusion coefficient, which contributes to a great improvement in cyclic and high rate capabilities of LTO electrode. The ZnO coating on LTO may be an effective method to restrict the gassing behavior of LTO based battery.

Graphical abstractThe Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) based batteries have severe gassing behavior due to the strong interfacial reactions between LTO and the electrolyte solution, which hampers the practical application of LTO in high power LIBs. The ZnO coating on LTO particles as a barrier layer can effectively suppress the interfacial reactions between LTO and the electrolyte solution. Simultaneously, the ZnO coating significantly reduces the charge-transfer resistance and increases the lithium ion diffusion coefficient, which leads to great improvement of rate and cyclic performance of LTO electrode.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide