Electrochemical Lithium Insertion into TiO 2 Anatase ALD Thin Films for Li‐Ion Microbatteries: An Atomic‐Scale Picture Provided by Raman Spectroscopy
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International audience. Electrochemical lithium (de)intercalation in an atomic layer deposited (ALD) TiO2 anatase thin film deposited on a planar Si /Al2O3/Pt substrate is investigated by Raman spectroscopy. An initial discharge capacity of 63 µAh cm−2 µm−1 (0.5 Li+ mole−1) is reached at C/10 rate, which increases up to 77 µAh cm−2 µm−1 upon further cycles. An excellent capacity retention is achieved over at least 100 cycles, showing the good adherence of the ALD thin film. Raman spectra of LixTiO2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) thin film electrodes point to the nucleation of the orthorhombic lithiated titanate (LT) Li0.5TiO2 phase from x = 0.1. This LT phase coexists with tetragonal TiO2 in the 0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.4 composition domain to be pure for x = 0.5. A fully reversible transformation from orthorhombic LT to tetragonal TiO2 is observed upon the charge. The high quality of the Raman spectra allows identifying for the first time 12 modes in the 100–800 cm−1 region for the electrochemically formed LT phase. Furthermore, an appropriate Raman spectra analysis allows a reliable and quantitative determination of the thin film composition during discharge and charge. These results illustrate Raman spectroscopy is a powerful probe to scrutinize the Li insertion/extraction mechanism in TiO2 thin films.