A ternary MnO/MnTiO3@C composite anode with greatly enhanced cycle stability for Li-ion batteries

Manganese monoxide (MnO) has been widely studied as a potential anode material of Li-ion batteries because of its high specific capacity and abundant raw materials. However, the poor cycling stability of MnO associating to its large volume change during the repeated conversion reaction with Li+ has restricted its practical applications. Herein, ternary MnO/MnTiO3@C composite anode materials are prepared by in situ capturing TiO2 nanoparticles into sea urchin-like MnO2 in a mild hydrothermal reaction, followed by resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin coating and thermal treatment. With the strong stabilization effect of the MnTiO3 component, the optimized ternary MnO/MnTiO3@C composite anode exhibits greatly enhanced cycling performance as compared to [email protected] A reversible capacity of 383 mAh g−1 is preserved after 500 cycles at 1000 mA g−1. This improved cycle performance can be originated from the stable TiO crystals and the highly reversible amorphous LixMnTiO3 phase generated in the first lithiation process. The reasonably high specific capacity and robust cycle stability enable the ternary MnO/MnTiO3@C composites to be promising alternative anode materials to graphite for Li-ion batteries.