Supercritical-hydrothermal accelerated solid state reaction route for synthesis of LiMn2O4 cathode material for high-power Li-ion batteries

Synthesis of the spinel structure lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) by supercritical hydrothermal (SH) accelerated solid state reaction (SSR) route was studied. The impacts of the reaction pressure, reaction temperature and reaction time of SH route, and the calcination temperature of SSR route on the purity, particle morphology and electrochemical properties of the prepared LiMn2O4 materials were studied. The experimental results show that after 15 min reaction in SH route at 400 °C and 30 MPa, the reaction time of SSR could be significantly decreased, e.g. down to 3 h with the formation temperature of 800 °C, compared with the conventional solid state reaction method. The prepared LiMn2O4 material exhibits good crystallinity, uniform size distribution and good electrochemical performance, and has an initial specific capacity of 120 mA·h/g at a rate of 0.1C (1C=148 mA/g) and a good rate capability at high rates, even up to 50C.