Exploration of Spinel LiCrTiO4 as Cathode Material for Rechargeable Mg-Li Hybrid Batteries

Ye Yao; Lu Zhang; Xiaofei Bie; Hong Chen; Chunzhong Wang; Fei Du; Gang Chen

doi:10.1002/chem.201702075

Exploration of Spinel LiCrTiO₄ as Cathode Material for Rechargeable Mg-Li Hybrid Batteries

Chemistry. 2017 Dec 19;23(71):17935-17939. doi: 10.1002/chem.201702075. Epub 2017 Dec 4.

Authors

Ye Yao¹, Lu Zhang¹, Xiaofei Bie¹, Hong Chen², Chunzhong Wang^{1

3}, Fei Du¹, Gang Chen^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Physics and Technology for Advanced Batteries (Ministry of Education), State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, College of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China.
² College of Physics, Beihua University, Jilin, 132013, P. R. China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China.

PMID: 28623866
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201702075

Abstract

Mg-Li hybrid batteries have attracted wide interest in recent years because of their potential safety as well as their cost benefit and high volumetric capacity. However, slow kinetic properties strongly hinder their commercial application. In this study, we have prepared spinel LiCrTiO₄ by a solid-state reaction and have conducted a comprehensive study aimed at improving the performance of Mg-Li hybrid batteries by optimizing the dual-salt electrolyte. LiCrTiO₄ has been found to show reversible discharge/charge capacities of 178 and 169 mA h g^-1 in electrolytes of 1 m LiCl and 0.3 m APC (all-phenyl-complex), respectively. When the concentration of APC was increased to 0.4 m, LiCrTiO₄ showed a high capacity retention of 95 % after 30 cycles. In addition, no phase transition could be observed for an LiCrTiO₄ electrode in a dual-salt system, suggesting high electrochemical reversibility. Ex situ EDX and SEM studies have indicated that only Li⁺ ions are inserted into the cathode side, while Mg²⁺ ions are reversibly deposited on the surface of Mg metal without dendrite-like growth, indicative of good safety of the Mg-Li hybrid batteries.

Keywords: LiCrTiO4; cathode materials; intercalations; spinel phases; zero strain.