Recent Advances in Titanium Niobium Oxide Anodes for High-Power Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

High-power energy storage devices are required for many emerging technologies. The rate capability of existing energy storage devices is inadequate to fulfill the requirements of fast charging and discharging while maintaining suitable long-term stability and energy density. This is readily apparent when evaluating the current anode of choice, graphite, which does not have an acceptable high-rate capability using traditional electrolytes. Recent work has shown that titanium niobium oxides (TNO) are promising alternative anode materials with high charge/discharge rates, excellent stability, and reasonable capacity. This article reviews the latest advancements in the development of TNO-based anode materials and architectures for fast energy storage devices, including new insights into understanding their crystal structure and lithiation mechanisms, effective strategies to improve the electrochemical properties of the materials (e.g., defect engineering, composite design, and overlithiation), and rational design of electrode and cell architectures to facilitate fast charge and mass transfer. Critical challenges and new directions in achieving high rate capabilities will also be discussed.

Partially Reduced Titanium Niobium Oxide: A High‐Performance Lithium‐Storage Material in a Broad Temperature Range

“…Figure 3 a and Figure S4 (Supporting Information) respectively show the discharge−charge curves of PR‐TNO and TNO in the safe potential window of 3.0−0.8 V. The two sets of curves have similar shapes with pseudo‐plateaus at 1.7−1.6 V and operation potentials averaging at ≈1.45 V, which is the lowest among the known M−Nb−O anode materials [ 5 , 15 ] and smaller than that of Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (≈1.57 V). [ 7 ] The pseudo‐plateau in each discharge/charge curve corresponds to a two‐phase reaction, while two sloping regions respectively within 3.0−1.7 and 1.6−0.8 V indicate two different solid‐solution reactions.…”

“…First, the ReO 3 ‐type layered crystal structure of PR‐TNO provides abundant room for fast Li + transport and storage, and displays notable capacitive behavior especially at low temperatures. [ 5 ] Second, PR‐TNO expands the interlayer spacing, which further facilitates the Li + transport between layers. [ 6 ] Third, the relatively high operation potential of PR‐TNO results in very thin solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) films coated on its primary particles, [ 7 ] allowing fast Li + transport between the electrolyte and the PR‐TNO lattice.…”

Cause and Mitigation of Lithium-Ion Battery Failure—A Review

“…Anode materials should possess a lower potential, a higher reducing power, and a better mechanical strength to overcome any form of abuse [ 19 , 20 ]. Several materials such as graphite [ 4 ], carbon, and lithium titanate Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO) [ 21 ] have been tried and tested for quite some time and a few, such as silicon, lithium metal, or titanium niobium oxides (TNO) [ 22 ], are still under research. However, there are certain drawbacks during normal battery operation, which would lead to the initiation of mechanisms that might cause anode material failure.…”

“…1.6 V) with a higher theoretical capacity that can be practically accessed even at high rates by carbon coating and doping. For details, the reader is referred to a recent review by Yuan et al on this class of material [ 22 ].…”

Advanced and Emerging Negative Electrodes for Li-Ion Capacitors: Pragmatism vs. Performance

“…The challenging synthetic route for the preparation of T-Nb 2 O 5 is a major roadblock preventing widespread adoption of this promising material, which resulted in a search for alternatives. In the aforementioned niobium-based oxides, Nb 5+ undergoes a single-electron reduction and becomes Nb 4+ within the voltage range of 1.2-3.0 V (vs Li/Li + ) [53]. To further improve this material, the findings from LIB could be applied [54] and the Nb atoms could be partially replaced with Ti atoms forming titanium niobium oxides (TNO)-a material that benefits from the presence of multiple redox couples.…”