Hydrothermal synthesis of spinel Li1+x Mn2O4 as cathode material for rechargeable lithium battery

Abstract The hydrothermal synthesis of Li-Mn spinel oxide (Li1+xMn2O4) was undertaken in order to develop high quality, low cost cathode material for a rechargeable lithium battery. In our experiments, γ-MnOOH, LiOH · H2O and H2O2 were used as starting materials to synthesize Li-Mn spinel oxide under hydrothermal conditions of 180-230°C and about 1.0-2.8 MPa. The chemical composition and particle size of the Li1+xMn2O4 is easily controlled in the hydrothermal reaction. The Li1+xMn2O4 produced was characterized by X-ray diffraction, with the spinel phase having a Li/Mn ratio of 0.50-0.60. There is convincing evidence, as a result of this work, that our synthesis process is most suitable for producing high quality cathode material that can be used in a rechargeable lithium battery.