Structural and electrochemical characterizations of LiMn1−xAl0.5xCu0.5xPO4 (x=0.0, 0.1, 0.2) cathode materials for lithium ion batteries

Orthorhombic LiMnPO4 and its derivatives LiMn1−xAl0.5xCu0.5xPO4 (x=0.1, 0.2) were prepared by sol gel method. The doping of Al and Cu for Mn in LiMnPO4 exhibited lattice shrinkage and improvement of electronic conductivity. LiMn0.8Al0.1Cu0.1PO4 exhibited the high discharge capacity of 166 mAh g−1 than that of other samples such as LiMn0.9Al0.05Cu0.05PO4 (~113 mAh g−1) and Pristine LiMnPO4 (~103 mAh g−1). These results demonstrated that Al and Cu dual doping found to be one of the alternative route to enhance the electrochemical activity of nanostructured LiMnPO4.