A DFT study of TiC3 as anode material for Li-ion batteries

Two-dimensional monolayer titanium carbide (TiC3) was used to study as a suitable electrode material for lithium-ion batteries with first principles calculation. The monolayer TiC3 showed excellent structural stability, high mechanical stiffness and good electronic conductance behaviour. The adsorption of Li on the carbon rich composition of titanium carbide monolayer is predicted to be favourable. TiC3 structure has remained the same, preserving its metallicity after Li adsorption with attaining high electrical conductivity during lithiation/delithiation process. Especially, the theoretical specific capacity of TiC3 monolayer is high, up to 1916 mAh/g, which is five times higher than the practical graphite. The low open circuit voltage (0.26 V) and diffusion energy barrier (0.25 eV) are also beneficial for overall performance of LIBs. Importantly, during lithiation the change in area is very small and reaches only 8.1 % for full lithiation indicating that it can avoid the large volume expansion during charge/discharge cycles. Its excellent performance, including high melting temperature, dynamical and mechanical stability, can be credited to the rigidness of the TiC3. Given these advantages, that is, high specific capacity, low Li diffusion energy barrier, low open circuit voltage and high in-plane stiffness, TiC3 monolayer can be a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries.