In-situ self-assembly synthesis of low-cost, long-life, shape-controllable spherical Li4Ti5O12 anode material for Li-ion batteries

•Preparation of in-situ self-assembly of LTO submicron spheres by simple one-step liquid phase deposition.•Low-cost inexpensive titanium sources (H2TiO3) was chosen for LTO synthesis.•Obtain uniformly dispersed sub-micron spherical LTO particles through simple hydrolysis rate adjustment.•LTO-4–700 has excellent capacity retention rate of 96.7% after 1000 cycles at 1750 mA g-1.