Construction of rod-like micro/nano structure and its effects on the electrochemical energy storage performance of lithium-rich manganese-based cathode material

By adjusting the oxidant amount and hydrothermal reaction temperature, a rod-shaped MnO₂ sample was formed. Taking it as the manganese source, a Li-rich manganese-based cathode material (LMCM) with obvious rod-like micro/nano structure was obtained by high-temperature solid-state method. After conducting tests on the morphology structure and electrochemical performance, the results indicated that the micro/nano structure was made up of polyhedral nano-scale primary particles and rod-like micro-scale secondary particles. The obtained LMCM had the standard α-NaFeO₂ crystal structure. At the charge and discharge rate of 0.1C, its initial discharge specific capacity and Coulombic efficiency were 267 mAh·g⁻¹ and 85.8%, respectively, which was obviously better than those of LMCM prepared with commercially purchased MnO₂ (222 mAh·g⁻¹ and 76.3%) by the same operations. Additionally, the LMCM with rod-like micro/nano structure also demonstrated a high rate performance and a high cycle capacity retention (140 mAh·g⁻¹ discharge capacity at 5C) after 50 cycles of charge / discharge), further indicating a promising application prospect.