Electrochemical properties of the TiO(2)(B) powders ball mill treated for lithium-ion battery application

BACKGROUND: Belt or wire shaped TiO(2)(B) particles were synthesized for lithium ion battery application by a hydrothermal and heat treatment process. In order to facilitate TiO(2)(B)/C composites fabrication, the synthesized TiO(2)(B) particles were crushed into smaller sizes by ball milling. RESULTS: Ball mill treated TiO(2)(B) particles of less than 1.0 μm with a fraction of anatase phase, compared to as-synthesized TiO(2)(B) particles with about 24 μm in average particle size, showed a significant improvement in the electrochemical properties. They showed a much improved stability in the charge–discharge cycles and irreversibility. They maintained about 98% of the initial capacity during 50 cycles while as-synthesized sample before ball mill treatment showed a gradual decrease in the capacity with the cycles. The irreversibility of 12.4% of as-synthesized sample was also greatly improved to 7% after ball milling treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate ball mill treatment can be an economical way to improve electrochemical properties of TiO(2)(B) anode materials for lithium ion battery application.