Lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12) has a long cycle life as an anode material for battery, and is expected to be used in large lithium-ion battery power and energy storage. However, the capacity of more than 90% of this material are usually concentrated in the platform of 1.5V (vs. Li / Li +) during charge / discharge process, represented as a flat voltage - volume curve; while the phenomenon will occur that the voltage spikes up/down as the charge / discharge is about finishing. This phenomenon can easily lead to problem of battery over-charge / discharge and a serious threat of battery safety and lifetime.

Most recently, the iChEM Professor, Yongyao Xia, developed a facile way to prepare a highly crystalline binary Li4Ti5O12 - Li2Ti3O7 nanocomposite by using a solid-state method. Their finding improves the SOC range and meets the both requirements of a smooth voltage output and prevention of overcharging/overdischarging. Their work of “involving quench assistance by liquid N2. Binary Li4Ti5O12 - Li2Ti3O7 Nanocomposite as an Anode Material for Li-Ion Batteries” was published on Adv. Funct. Mater. (2013, 23, 640–647), and reported and reviewed by “MaterialsViews.com” and “Materials ViewsChina.com”.

Prof. Xia’s research interests include advanced materials and technologies for energy storage and conversion devices, e.g., lithium-ion batteries, electrochemical supercapacitors, lithium-air batteries, and fuel cells etc; application of nanostructure hybrid inorganic-organic compounds for energy storage, electrochemical catalysis, etc; and computational simulation of functional materials for battery application.