Impact of cerium doping on the structural and electrical properties of Lithium Nickel Manganese Oxide

The present work focuses on the influence of Cerium on the structural and electrical properties of LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 compound. Equivalent (LiNi0.475Ce0.05Mn0.475O2) and non-equivalent sites (LiNi0.45Ce0.05Mn0.5O2 and LiNi0.5Ce0.05Mn0.45O2) cerium doped LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 compounds were prepared by PVP assisted sol-gel method and was investigated by XRD and AC impedance analysis. The XRD analysis shows that Ce doping does not change the basic crystalline structure of LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2. The appearance of new peaks at 28 and 33 in the XRD pattern was consistent with the standard peaks of CeO2. In addition, the intensity ratio (I003/I104) of planes (003) and (104) was decreased by doping, suggesting the undesirable cation mixing to be occurred at the lattice. By AC impedance analysis the total electrical conductivity of the pristine compound was found to be 2.57×10 -7 S/cm. An effective improvement of the total electrical conductivity (order of 10 -6 S/cm) was observed