Synthesis and electrochemical properties of LiMn2O4 by microwave-assisted sol–gel method

In this work, a timesaving and efficient method, which is microwave-assisted sol–gel method, has been used for synthesis of LiMn2O4 spinel as a cathode material for lithium ion batteries. The influence of synthesis conditions on the structural and electrochemical properties of LiMn2O4 was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and charge–discharge experiments. The powders resulting from the microwave-assisted sol–gel method are pure, spinel-structure LiMn2O4 particles of regular shapes that exhibit promising electrochemical behavior for battery. In addition, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed to analyze the reason of capacity fading of LiMn2O4 electrodes.