Spinel lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12) as novel anode material for room-temperature sodium-ion battery

This is the first time that a novel anode material, spinel Li4Ti5O12 which is well known as a "zero-strain" anode material for lithium storage, has been introduced for sodium-ion battery. The Li4Ti5O12 shows an average Na storage voltage of about 1.0 V and a reversible capacity of about 145 mAh/g, thereby making it a promising anode for sodium-ion battery. Ex-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) is used to investigate the structure change in the Na insertion/deinsertion process. Based on this, a possible Na storage mechanism is proposed.