A simple and mass production preferred solid-state procedure to prepare the LiSixMgxMn2−2xO4 (0≤x≤0.10) with enhanced cycling stability and rate capability

We presented a simple and mass production preferred solid-state procedure to prepare the LiSixMgxMn2−2xO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) samples by using industrial electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD), lithium carbonate, tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and magnesium nitrate as raw materials. All the Si-Mg co-doped LiMn2O4 samples showed the intrinsic spinel structure without any other impurity phases. Among these samples, the LiSi0.05Mg0.05Mn1.90O4 was found to be optimal possessing regular crystal morphology with clean surfaces. Electrochemical tests showed that the LiSi0.05Mg0.05Mn1.90O4 could present excellent cycling stability and rate capability. It exhibited the initial discharge capacity of 121.3 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C between 3.20 and 4.35 V. After 100 cycles, the discharge capacity could still reach up to 113.8 mAh g−1 with capacity retention of 93.8%. Moreover, at the higher charge-discharge rate of 5.0 C, a high discharge capacity of 92.5 mAh g−1 was obtained while the undoped LiMn2O4 sample only exhibited 47.8 mAh g−1. These results indicated that the LiSi0.05Mg0.05Mn1.90O4 prepared by a simple and mass production preferred solid-state procedure in this work might promote the large-scale industrial production of LiMn2O4.