Physical vapor deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles on artificial graphite: an excellent anode for high rate and long cycle life lithium-ion batteries

Artificial graphite powder (AGP) is one of the utmost common anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIB). Nevertheless, the dissolution of the anode material into the electrolyte is one of the main challenges that causes the vanishing capacity and poor cyclability. In this study, a nanoscale TiO 2 film is uniformly sputtered on the surface of bare artificial graphite (BAG) electrode through the physical vapor deposition (PVD). The results obviously prove that TiO 2 film is completely and homogeneously covered on the BAG electrodes. BAG and AG/TiO 2 electrodes represent discharge capacities of 339.3 and 369 mAh g −1 at first cycle, respectively. Therefore, the nano-layer coating of TiO 2 increases the initial discharge capacity of artificial graphite around 9%. After 100 cycles, the values of capacity retention at a current density of 0.5 C are 88.7 and 94.2% for BAG and AG/TiO 2 , respectively. The discharge specific capacity of pouch full cells using BAG and AG/TiO 2 anodes versus NCA cathode reveals that AG/TiO 2 anodes could still provide a high reversible capacity of around 123.05 mAh g −1 after 10 cycles at a high current density of 4 C. This corresponds to 346.5% improvement compared with BAG anodes versus NCA cathode at 4 C. Graphical abstract