The influence of synthesis routes on the crystallography, morphology and electrochemistry of Li2MnO3

With the potential of delivering reversible capacities of up to 300 mAh/g, Li-rich transition metal oxides hold great promise as cathode materials for future Li-ion batteries. However, a cohesive synthesis-structure-electrochemistry relationship is still lacking for these materials, which impedes progress in the field. This work investigates how and why different synthesis routes, specifically solid-state and modified Pechini sol-gel methods, affect the properties of Li2MnO3, a compositionally simple member of this material system. Through a comprehensive investigation of the syn-thesis mechanism along with crystallographic, morphological and electrochemical characterization, the effects of different synthesis routes were found to predominantly influence the degree of stacking faults and particle morphology. That is, the modified Pechini method produced isotropic spherical particles with approx. 57% faulting and the solid state samples possessed heterogeneous morphology with approx. 43% faulting probabili...