Enhanced electrochemical performance of MoO3-coated LiMn2O4 cathode for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries

LiMn2O4 (LMO) spinel cathode materials are modified with MoO3 coating synthesized using a simple wet chemical method. The surface modified samples show much better capacity retention than pristine LMO. In specially, 3 wt% MoO3 coated sample (LMO/M3) exhibit superior rate specific capacity with 110, 90 and 75 mAhg−1 at 5, 7 and 10 C, respectively. In addition, after 900 cycles at a current of 2 C, a capacity retention of 69.1% was achieved for LMO/M3, which is higher than the 39.6% for the pristine LMO. The enhancements of the electrochemical performance can be largely attributed to the stabilization of the cathode structure by suppressing the manganese dissolution in the electrolyte and in favor for Li+ ion diffusion after MoO3 coating.