Lithium manganese phosphate associated with MWCNT: Enhanced positive electrode for lithium hybrid batteries

Abstract Lithium manganese phosphate, LiMnPO4 (LMP) posses 20% higher redox potential compared to LiFePO4 and it is believed that LiMnPO4 positive electrode, which is replacement of LiFePO4 for lithium hybrid batteries. The capacity fade at high voltages is a key issue to be rectified in LiMnPO4 electrodes. In this report, a facile hydrothermal approach and solid state reaction method has been used to synthesis of LMP and carbon coated LMP samples. The MWCNT is coated at different ratios (1:1 and 1:3) on the surface of the LMP. The structural, morphological, textural and chemical composition of the fabricated electrode sample is characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, BET and XPS analysis. The MWCNT coated LMP (1:3) show high surface area (91.5 m2/g) and pore size distribution (15.5 nm) than compared with LMP electrode (67.5 m2/g and 36.2 nm). For the electrochemical performance instead of Li foil as anode we tried activated carbon (AC) as anode to prepare cost effective cathode materials. The results demonstrate that LMP@CNT (1:3) electrode delivers a high capacity of 159 mAh/g at 100 mA/g. The high stability of the electrode is achieved and the capacity retention is about 92% even after 100 cycles. The enhanced electrochemical performance gives the cost effective with highly stable positive electrode for Li hybrid batteries.