Li2ZnTi3O8 coated with uniform lithium magnesium silicate layer revealing enhanced rate capability as anode material for Li-Ion battery

Lithium magnesium silicate (LMS) exhibits strong adsorbability, cohesiveness, suspensibility, chemical stability and good cation exchangeability, which was chosen in this work to modify Li₂ZnTi₃O₈ (LZTO) by simply mixing LZTO in LMS colloidal solution, followed by sintering at 750 °C for 5 h. The uniform LMS coating on LZTO particles gives rise to the marked enhancement in electrochemical performance of LZTO. The LMS-coated LZTO with a LMS/LZTO mass ratio of 0.015 achieves a high reversible capacity of 236.3 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹, which also demonstrates outstanding rate performance, attaining capacities of 243.3, 217.2, 200.5, 183.5, 140.4 and 269.8 mAh g⁻¹ at the current rates of 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 100 mA g⁻¹. The appreciable performance is attributable to the uniform LMS coating for protecting LZTO against the direct contact with the electrolyte to refrain from the side reactions, enhancing the Coulombic efficiency in the initial cycle, improving electronic and ionic conductivities to weaken polarization by the interaction between LMS and electrolyte.