Improvement of capacity and cycling performance of spinel LiMn2O4 cathode materials with TiO2-B nanobelts

The spinel LiMn2O4 was modified with TiO2-B nanobelts to improve its specific capacity and cycling performance. TiO2-B/LiMn2O4 composites were fabricated by a facile liquid phase mixing method. The morphology and structure of the samples were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that TiO2-B nanobelts are uniformly distributed in LiMn2O4 particle. Compared with bare LiMn2O4, TiO2-B/LiMn2O4 composite cathode material shows enhanced specific capacity of 129 mA h g−1 and improved cycling stability. After 50 cycles, the 0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 wt.% TiO2-B nanobelts modified LiMn2O4 exhibited the capacity retention of 86.1, 92.6, 93.7, 94.5 and 92.8%, respectively. The improvement of the electrochemical performance is attributed to suppression of Mn2+ dissolution, higher structural stability of the composite and rapid Li+ diffusion resulting from the open lattice channels and unique one-dimensional structure of TiO2-B nanobelts.