Materials' effects on the elevated and room temperature performance of C/LiMn_2O_4 Li-ion batteries

摘要

Li-ion rechargeable batteries based on LiMn_2O_4 suffer from relatively poor storage and cycling performance at elevated temperatures. In order to address this issue, a structural and electrochemical study of LiMn_2O_4-based systems at room and elevated temperatures were undertaken. Some of the spinel material characteristics such as morphology, defects, surface area, structural instability, single- versus two- phase lithium-insertion processes, cation and oxygen stoichiometry, and manganese solubility were investigated. We found that the sample surface area, which also influences the manganese dissolution and electrolyte oxidation, is one of the most critical parameters in controlling the rate of irreversible self-discharge, with the lowest irreversible self-discharge being observed for samples with the lowest surface area.