Hierarchically Porous Li4Ti5O12 Anode Materials for Li- and Na-Ion Batteries: Effects of Nanoarchitectural Design and Temperature Dependence of the Rate Capability

Integrated design of both porous structure and crystalline morphology is expected to open up the way to a new class of materials. This report demonstrates new nanostructured Li4Ti5O12 materials with hierarchically porous structures and flower‐like morphologies. Electrochemical studies of the electrodes of Li‐ion and Na‐ion batteries clearly reveal the advantage of nanoarchitectural design of active materials. In addition, the temperature dependence of Na+‐insertion/extraction capacity in relation to Li4Ti5O12 electrodes is for the first time evaluated and it is found that elevation of the cell operating temperature effectively improves the rate capability of the Na‐ion batteries. Based on the new findings, it is suggested that specially designed Li4Ti5O12 materials allow for high‐performance Na‐ion batteries that are available as large‐scale storage devices for applications such as automotive and stationary energy storage. Novel nanostructural design of Li4Ti5O12 materials with interconnected pores and flower‐like surface morphologies is reported for high‐performance Li‐ and Na‐ion batteries. The detailed electrochemical studies reveal that the optimization of the cell operating temperature in addition to the nanoarchitecture, efficiently facilitates rate capability in Na+ insertion/extraction. The findings offer progress in the practical use of Na‐ion batteries.