Experimental evaluation of LiFeTiO4 as an electrode

Feasibility of spinel cubic LiFeTiO4 as an electrode material for pseudocapacitor application has been analyzed and evaluated using different experimental characterization techniques. The material prepared via conventional solid-state reaction indicated a porous microstructure, as revealed in SEM, comprising of inhomogeneously distributed polycrystalline grains separated by well-defined grain boundaries. This is also corroborated by SAED pattern. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis indicated specific surface area of 1.93 m(2) g(-1) for LiFeTiO4. Electrochemical analysis indicated the possibility of reversible charge transfer as its characteristic feature suggesting suitability as an electrode material. The designed supercapacitor cell, using LiFeTiO4 as the electrode, gave very high specific capacitance similar to 430 F/g with near perfect coulombic efficiency similar to 99% observed during charge-discharge cycle. The high value of specific capacitance and coulombic efficiency has been attributed to the possibility of multiple redox reactions occurring via different charge transfer centers such as, Fe+2/Fe+3 and Ti+3/Ti+4 redox couples. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.