Electrochemical Performance of Al-Doped Spinel LiMn₂O₄ Cathode Material for Li-ion Batteries

Abstract

Spinel LiMn2O4, a cathode material for Li-ion batteries, is featured as good high-rate performance, low cost and environmental friendly. The pristine and Al-doped LiMn2O4 samples were prepared by sol-gel method. The structure and micromorphology of the as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results demonstrated that the as-prepared LiMn2O4 samples had a typical cubic spinel structure and were composed of sphere-like particles with a diameter range of 300 ~ 500 nm. Galvanostatic charge-discharge tests showed that the LiMn2O4 samples doped with Al element exhibited an enhanced cycling performance. Especially, in the case of LiMn2O4 with 5% Al-doped, the discharge capacity retention was about 98.2% at the rate of 1C discharge and was 99% at the rate of 5C discharge, based on the same charge rate of 1C.