Sol-Gel Synthesis of Nanocrystalline Mesoporous Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ Thin-Films as Anodes for Li-Ion Microbatteries

The development of anodes based on Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO) for lithium ion batteries has become very important in recent years on the basis that it allows a long service life (stability in charge-discharge cycling) and safety improvements. The processing of this material in the form of thin film allows for greater control of its characteristics and an improvement of its disadvantages, namely reduced electrical conductivity and low diffusion of lithium ions. In this work, we try to limit these disadvantages through the synthesis of a mesostructured carbon-doped Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ thin-film with a pure spinel phase using a combination of a block-copolymer template and in situ synthesis of Li-Ti double alkoxide. Structural and electrochemical characterization has been carried out to determine the best conditions (temperature, time, atmosphere) for the thermal treatment of the material to reach a compromise between crystallinity and porosity distribution (pore size, pore volume, and interconnectivity).