Anode active material containing transition metal oxide, anode electrode using the same, and manufacturing method thereof

Carbon-embedded nano-TiNbO4 anode material using glycol sol-gel and nitrogen heat treatment

This technology produces a TiNbO4 precursor via an ethylene glycol-based secondary alcohol sol-gel method and performs heat treatment in a nitrogen atmosphere. By creating an anode active material with nano-sized particles, internal pores, and carbon atoms distributed on the surface and interior, it reduces lithium-ion diffusion distances and enhances electrical conductivity.

Conventional transition metal oxide anode materials suffer from low lithium-ion conductivity and structural instability during charge-discharge cycles. Their slow electron transfer rates also limit performance during high-speed charging and discharging.

This technology mixes titanium butoxide and niobium ethoxide in a secondary alcohol to control particle size at the nanoscale. A precursor is obtained through a sol-gel reaction using acetone and distilled water as hydrolysis catalysts, followed by heat treatment at temperatures exceeding 550°C in a nitrogen environment to secure a tetragonal rutile crystal structure, residual carbon, and controlled porosity. Applicable to anodes for fast-charging electric buses, equipment for low-temperature environments, and high-output hybrid vehicles, the pore size and carbon content can be custom-designed simply by adjusting the heat treatment temperature.

‍

‍

Key Features:

• Preparing a first source containing titanium butoxide and a second transition metal oxide source containing niobium ethoxide
• Providing both transition metal oxide sources into an ethylene glycol-based secondary alcohol to prepare a base source
• Providing acetone and distilled water as hydrolysis catalysts to the base source and inducing a sol-gel reaction to prepare a transition metal oxide precursor
• Heat-treating the transition metal oxide precursor in a nitrogen environment at a temperature exceeding 550°C to produce a TiNbO4-based anode active material

‍

This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Education's Nanosensor Research Institute.

‍