TiNb₂O₇/Graphene hybrid material as high performance anode for lithium-ion batteries

We report the synthesis of TiNb₂O₇/Graphene (TNO-TG) hybrid nanomaterial by simple solvothermal process, with TiNb₂O₇ nanoparticles anchored on the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets. TNO-TG hybrid nanomaterial showed excellent electrochemical performance when studied as anode for Lithium-ion battery, with an exceptionally high rate capability (capacity retention of 80% at 16 C rate) along with high discharge capacity (∼230 mAhg⁻¹ after 50 cycles at 0.1 C). A full cell Li-ion battery has been fabricated with TNO-TG as anode and LiNi_1/3Mn_1/3Co_1/3O₂:LiNi_0.5Mn_0.5O₂ (wt% of 75:25) as cathode, which delivered an average cell voltage of ∼2.5 V with an initial anode-specific discharge capacity of 211 mAhg⁻¹, when cycled in the voltage range of 1.5–3.5 V at 0.1 C. The obtained results are very promising and we believe the current findings will lead to new directions in the on-going search for safe and high performance anodes for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries