Preparation and electrochemical performance of hyper-networked Li4Ti5O12/carbon hybrid nanofiber sheets for a battery-supercapacitor hybrid system

Hyper-networked Li4Ti5O12/carbon hybrid nanofiber sheets that contain both a faradaically rechargeable battery-type component, namely Li4Ti5O12, and a non-faradaically rechargeable supercapacitor-type component, namely N-enriched carbon, are prepared by electrospinning and their dual function as a negative electrode of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and a capacitor is tested for a new class of hybrid energy storage (denoted BatCap). An aqueous solution composed of polyvinylpyrrolidone, lithium hydroxide, titanium(IV) bis(ammonium-lactato) dihydroxide and ammonium persulfate is electrospun to obtain hyper-networked nanofiber sheets. Next, the sheets are exposed to pyrrole monomer vapor to prepare the polypyrrole-coated nanofiber sheets (PPy-HNS). The hyper-networked Li4Ti5O12/N-enriched carbon hybrid nanofiber sheets (LTO/C-HNS) are then obtained by a stepwise heat treatment of the PPy-HNS. The LTO/C-HNS deliver a specific capacity of 135 mAh g(-1) at 4000 mA g(-1) as a negative electrode for LIBs. In addition, potentiodynamic experiments are performed using a full cell with activated carbon (AC) as the positive electrode and LTO/C-HNS as the negative electrode to estimate the capacitance properties. This new asymmetric electrode system exhibits a high energy density of 91 W kg(-1) and 22 W kg(-1) at power densities of 50 W kg(-1) and 4000 W kg(-1), respectively, which are superior to the values observed for the AC parallel to AC symmetric electrode system.