Doping and Morphological Engineering for Enhancing Electrochemical Properties of Spinel LiMn2O4 Cathode
摘要
Spinel LiMn2O4 is one of the most promising cathode materials for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. However, issues such as manganese dissolution and the Jahn–Teller effect lead to rapid capacity fading, especially at high temperatures over prolonged cycling. In this study, a synergy strategy with Al-doping and spherical particle morphology has been utilized to enhance the electrochemical performance of LiMn2O4. Initially, the spherical Al-doped Mn3O4 was prepared by a corrosion–oxidation method, which serves as the manganese source for the synthesis of spherical Li1.04Mn1.96−yAlyO4 via high-temperature solid-state reaction. Al-doping inhibits the Jahn–Teller effect, thus improving the cyclic performance of the material. Simultaneously, the spherical morphology possesses a higher energy density, efficiently balancing the capacity loss caused by doping. Compared with the undoped Li1.04Mn1.96O4, the optimally designed Li1.04Mn1.92Al0.04O4 sample exhibited superior cycling stability and rate capability while maintaining a high discharge capacity. It exhibited a capacity retention of 97.7% after 200 cycles at 1 C and 25 °C, with an initial discharge capacity of 122.1 mAh/g. Notably, under high current conditions of 10 C, it still demonstrated a capacity of 110.9 mAh/g. This study offers a simple and effective approach for the large-scale production of high-performance spinel LiMn2O4.