Facile One-Step Dynamic Hydrothermal Synthesis of Spinel LiMn2O4/Carbon Nanotubes Composite as Cathode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Chaoqi Shen; Hui Xu; Liu Liu; Heshan Hu; Siyuan Chen; Liwei Su; Lianbang Wang

doi:10.3390/ma12244123

Facile One-Step Dynamic Hydrothermal Synthesis of Spinel LiMn₂O₄/Carbon Nanotubes Composite as Cathode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Materials (Basel). 2019 Dec 9;12(24):4123. doi: 10.3390/ma12244123.

Authors

Chaoqi Shen¹, Hui Xu¹, Liu Liu¹, Heshan Hu¹, Siyuan Chen¹, Liwei Su¹, Lianbang Wang¹

Affiliation

¹ State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Chemistry-Synthesis Technology, College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.

Abstract

Nano-sized spinel LiMn₂O₄/carbon nanotubes (LMO/CNTs) composite is facilely synthesized via a one-step dynamic hydrothermal approach. The characterizations and electrochemical measurements reveal that LiMn₂O₄ particles with narrow size distribution are well dispersed with CNTs in the composite. The LMO/CNTs nanocomposite with 5 wt % CNTs displays a high specific discharge capacity of 114 mAh g^-1 at 1C rate, and the retention rate after 180 cycles at room temperature reaches 94.5% in the potential window of 3.3 to 4.3 V vs. Li/Li⁺. Furthermore, the electrochemical performance of the composite with 5 wt % CNTs at elevated temperature (55 °C) is also impressive, 90% discharging capacity could be maintained after 100 cycles at 1C. Such excellent electrochemical performance of the final product is attributed to the content of CNTs added in the hydrothermal process and small particle size inherited from pretreated MnO₂ precursor.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes; dynamic hydrothermal; nanocomposite; spinel lithium manganese oxide.

Abstract

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