Structure and electrochemical properties of Zn and Co dual-doped (Li₂Co_1-xZn_xMn₃O₈) as cathode material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries

¹ Centre for Frontier Materials Research, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 01000 Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia.
² School of Materials Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Jejawi, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
³ School of Microelectronics Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Pauh Putra, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
⁴ Advanced Batteries Lab, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542, Singapore.
⁵ School of Electrical System Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Pauh Putra, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.

^* Corresponding author: sobri@unimap.edu.my

Published online: 22 November 2017

Abstract

Spinel Zn doped Li₂CoMn₃O₈ (or also known as LiCo_0.5Mn_1.5O₄) yielding formula Li₂Co_1-xZn_xMn₃O₈ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were produced via conventional solid state method. XRD results and the variation of cell lattice and volume showed that the solid solution limit of these compositions was at x=0.6. Impurities were detected when the amount of Zn was beyond 60 %. The discharge capacities deteriorate as Zn content was increased. However, these Zn doped samples exhibited excellent cycle-ability (99.9% capacity retention) throughout 50 charging and discharging cycles which indicated that doping of Zn could possibly stabilised the spinel structure.