High-performance LiTi 2 (PO 4 ) 3 anodes for high-areal-capacity flexible aqueous lithium-ion batteries

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 5; no. 23; pp. 11764 - 11771
• Main Authors: Weng, Guo-Ming, Simon Tam, Long-Yin, Lu, Yi-Chun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/C7TA00482F

Developing flexible, high-energy and low-cost rechargeable batteries is critical to fulfil the increasing demands of flexible electronic devices. In this work, we report a high-performance nitrogen-doped carbon-coated LiTi 2 (PO 4 ) 3 (N-ccLTP) prepared via a one-pot carbonization incorporating sol–gel method. The N-ccLTP anode demonstrates an excellent rate capability with a superior cycle life up to 1000–2000 cycles at high C-rates (5C and 10C). Using the N-ccLTP anode coupled to a LiMn 2 O 4 cathode, we develop high-areal-capacity flexible aqueous lithium-ion batteries (ALIBs). Under a wide range of bending curvatures at continuous and cyclic bending modes, the flexible ALIBs show no degradation from the non-bending state and demonstrated superior stability with a high areal capacity of 1.2–1.4 mA h cm −2 and a high volumetric energy density of 26–31 mW h cm −3 . The designs of the N-ccLTP anode material and the flexible device structure offer effective strategies to develop high-performance flexible ALIBs for flexible electronic applications.