The design and study of new Li-ion full cells of LiCo2/3Ni1/6Mn1/6O2 positive electrode paired with MnSn2 and Li4Ti5O12 negative electrodes

We report evidence for the electrochemical performances of two Li-ion full cells, built up by the combination of LiCo2/3Ni1/6Mn1/6O2 cathode material with MnSn2 intermetallic and Li4Ti5O12 spinel as the anode materials, respectively. MnSn2 and Li4Ti5O12 electrode materials illustrate different working voltage versus the redox couple Li+/Li0 and different reaction mechanisms during lithium insertion/deinsertion cycles. The structure, morphological characteristics and the electrochemical properties of the studied materials were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical techniques. The two full-cell configurations showed different electrochemical behaviors. The MnSn2//LiCo2/3Ni1/6Mn1/6O2 configuration exhibits high working voltage (~ 3.5 V) and specific capacity (~ 200 mAh/gcathode) but suffers from high irreversible capacity loss during the first cycles and capacity fading during cycling. The Li4Ti5O12//LiCo2/3Ni1/6Mn1/6O2 cell demonstrated excellent cycling properties at different C-rates with 100% capacity retention after 150 cycles at 1 C. Although the working voltage (~ 2.2 V) and the specific capacity (~ 140 mAh/gcathode) are lower than those of the MnSn2//LiCo2/3Ni1/6Mn1/6O2 configuration, the other measured electrochemical properties suggest that the Li4Ti5O12//LiCo2/3Ni1/6Mn1/6O2 full cell is a potential candidate for battery application due to its excellent cycling performance and improved safety.