Synthesis and Electrochemical Characterization of LiMn2O4 and LiNd0.3Mn1.7O4 as Cathode for Lithium Ion Battery

LiMn2O4 is inexpensive material but it shows rather poor cyclic performance. The electrochemical performance of spinel type LiMn2O4 has been effectively improved with doping of Nd the “bottom–up” approach of LiMn2O4 and LiNd0.3Mn1.7O4 synthesized by citric acid modified microwave assisted sol-gel method. LiMn2O4 has been synthesized from nitrates and acetates. Citric acid was added as a complexing agent and acryl amide acts as a gelling agent. This technique offers better homogeneity, preferred surface morphology, reduced heat-treatment conditions, sub-micron sized particles and better crystallinity. The structure and the electrochemical performances of the samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry and charge-discharge testing. XRD data shows both samples exhibit the same pure spinel phase. Nano crystalline LiNd0.3Mn1.7O4 sample has a smaller morphology including small particle size and the homogeneous particle distribution.