UC Irvine

In this master thesis research project, we synthesized the Pt:TiO2-B thin films as the anode material for lithium-ion batteries using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method, which is a totally waterless process. Considering the poor electronic conductivity of TiO2-B, we aim to upgrade the electrochemical performance of TiO2-B by integrating Pt into its matrix to improve its electronic and ionic conductivity. By varying the oxygen partial pressure during the PLD synthesis, we obtained the Pt:TiO2-B thin film with different Pt content of 1.5%, 6% and 12% revealed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) analysis. Materials characterization techniques, including XRD and TEM, were used to verify thin films’ composition and structure. The as-prepared Pt:TiO2-B thin films were then used to assemble full cells of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and examined by chronopotentiometry and cyclic voltammetry tests. The result indicates that Pt:TiO2-B thin films present excellent electrochemical performance with high rate capacity and cycling stability, which reveals its promising application as anode materials for LIBs, and Pt dopant plays an important role in upgrading the TiO2-B electrochemical performance. This project suggests using PLD to synthesize TiO2 based materials doped with conductive substances to improve its electrochemical conductivity is an effective and simple way to obtain high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.