Qingqing Wanga,
Xiusheng Zhanga,
Yunlong Xu*a,
Dong Liub,
Hui Donga and
Yang Zhanga
aKey Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymeric Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, P. R. China
bDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
First published on 28th August 2015
A series of Ni and F ion doped LiMn2O4 composite cathode materials are synthesized via a sol–gel method with citric acid as the chelating agent. The morphology and structure of LiNixMn2−xO4−yFy were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS and the electrochemical performance was tested and characterized by CV and EIS. The results showed that Ni and F ions were uniformly dispersed in the lattice without changing the structure and morphology of LiMn2O4. LiNi0.03Mn1.97O3.95F0.05 exhibits an excellent electrochemical performance among all the samples, and delivers an initial discharge capacity of 120.3 mA h g−1 at 1C and with a retention of 94.5% (25 °C) and 80.4% (55 °C) after the 100th cycle respectively. The results demonstrated that the dual-doping of Ni and F ions in lithium manganate can prevent the manganate from dissolving in the electrolyte and enhance the cycling performance at elevated temperatures, exhibiting excellent performance at different discharge rates.
However, spinel LiMn2O4 suffers from severe capacity decay after long-term cycling and deprived rate capability under high rates, particularly at elevated temperatures.9,10 Researchers discovered a series of causes contributing to the capacity fading: (i) gradual manganate deficiency because of the dissolution of Mn3+ to the active electrolyte via disproportionation reaction.11,12 (ii) The degradation of the electrolyte LiPF6, whose decomposition leads to accelerated dissolution of Mn3+ and electrode active material.13,14 (iii) Jahn–Teller distortion of the cubic spinel structure of LiMn2O4 during the battery charge/discharge.15
In order to mitigate these problems, various approaches such as doping and electrode surface coating,16 have been proposed and employed and remarkable results were achieved by doping different elements in the material.17,18 Because Mn3+ is known to be responsible for manganese dissolution and Jahn–Teller distortion, many attempts have been made to substitute small amounts of Mn3+ with other metal cations. Many research groups have investigated the properties of manganese-substituted spinels LiMxMn2−xO4 (M = Al, Cr, Ti, Fe, Co, Zn, Mg) and it shows that doping can efficiently improve the cathode materials electrochemical properties.19–23 Chen announced that La2+ and F− could replace the Mn3+ and O2− in LiMn2O4 structure and strengthen the structural stability of spinel.24 Ben-Lin reported that substitution of manganese by aluminum decreases the unit cell volume and the decrease of Mn3+ concentration reduces the Jahn–Teller distortion and also stabilizes the structure integrity of the active, improved electrochemical stability.25,26 Although there are plenty of doping modification methods in references aimed to improve the electrochemical property of LiMn2O4 materials, most of them were simplex cation or anion doping and the doping of Ni and F still remain in skimp and worth study. We considered if the Ni and F dual-doping can further enhance the electrochemical performance and in this study, Ni and F ions were adopted as the doping elements in LiMn2O4 and obtained a preferable modification result.
In this study, we conducted the recombine doping of Ni and F to LiMn2O4 materials modification research and synthesized several of dual-doped LiNixMn2−xO4−yFy via a sol–gel method. We studied the effect of F Ni ions dual-doping to the LiMn2O4 materials on its structure and electrochemical properties systematically and obtained the best doping ratio of F Ni ions. It turned out that F and Ni ions dual-doping can improve the cycling stability and discharge performance under the high-rate of LiMn2O4.
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1, v/v) (Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co. Ltd, Guangzhou) was used as the electrolyte. The cells were assembled in an argon-filled glove box and left to age for 12 h before the charge/discharge test performed on a battery test instrument (CT2001A, LAND Battery Program-control Test System, China) over the voltage range of 3.0–4.4 V (vs. Li/Li+) at both room temperature (25 °C) and elevated temperature (55 °C). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was performed between 3.0–4.4 V on an electrochemical workstation (CHI660D, Shanghai Chenhua Co. Ltd, China) at the scan rate of 0.1 mV s−1. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) of the cells was also potentiostatically conducted on an electrochemical workstation (CHI, 660B, CHENHUA, China) between 10−2 and 105 Hz with an AC oscillation amplitude of 5 mV to investigate the charge transfer of synthesized materials. The collected EIS spectra were fitted using ZSimpWin software.
m space group. All samples show the same diffraction patterns and the doping of Ni and F ions do not appear to affect the crystal structure of the samples.27 No impurity peaks were detected as well. This indicates that the Ni2+ and F− substituting have seated at Mn3+ and O2− site in LiMn2O4 and thus no other phase is formed.
Rietveld refinement of the XRD data of the samples is carried out and the result is shown in Fig. 2. Table 1 shows the crystal parameters of various synthesized samples calculated from the XRD patterns. The structural information can be found in Table 1. According to the Fig. 2, as well as the R factors in Table 1, the calculated curve (black) matches well with the experimental data (red) which confirmed that the samples are coincident with the diffraction pattern of LiMn2O4.
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| Fig. 2 Observed (red) and calculated (black) XRD patterns for the (3N-5F) sample. The tick marks represent the position of all possible Bragg reflections of LiMn2O4. | ||
| Sample | a (Å) | Space | Rwp (%) | Rp (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0N-0F | 8.2465(2) | Fd m |
7.48 | 5.14 |
| 0N-5F | 8.2493(4) | Fd m |
8.05 | 5.86 |
| 3N-0F | 8.2386(2) | Fd m |
6.47 | 4.01 |
| 1N-3F | 8.2452(3) | Fd m |
6.39 | 3.97 |
| 1N-5F | 8.2473(5) | Fd m |
7.16 | 4.86 |
| 3N-3F | 8.2412(3) | Fd m |
7.22 | 4.93 |
| 3N-5F | 8.2435(2) | Fd m |
8.41 | 6.11 |
As can be seen from Table 1, that the doping of Ni2+ leads to the shrinkage of lattice parameter and the doping of F− goes to the opposite result. It was mainly attributed to the increase of average valence of manganese due to the Ni2+ doping while the radius of Mn4+ (0.067 nm) is smaller than the radius of Mn3+ (0.072 nm) meanwhile the energy of Ni2+ site preference is higher, thus forming the stronger bond of Ni–O after doping which leads to the shrinkage of cell volume and the decreasing of lattice parameters.28 The radius of F− is smaller than the O2− which indicates that the lattice parameters should be decreased with the amount of F− doping according to the Vegard rules, but the average valence would be decreased due to the doping of F− which increase the content of Mn3+ causing the augment of lattice parameters.18 The lattice parameters were joint influenced by the Ni2+ and F− doping for the dual-doping samples and the lattice parameters of different doping ratio demonstrated that the Ni2+ and F− ions were doped into the structure cell of LiMn2O4 further.
Fig. 3 shows the FE-SEM images of the pristine LiMn2O4 sample and doped LiNixMn2−xO4−yFy (x = 0.03, y = 0.05) sample. Both samples have uniform and nearly polyhedral structure morphology and all particles show a quite uniform distribution with the size ranging from 100 to 500 nm. The elemental mapping of the LiNixMn2−xO4−yFy sample by EDS was given in Fig. 4 where Fig. 4a shows the integral distribution of the observed element O, Mn, Ni and F and Fig. 4b and c represent the SEM image of selected test area and the mapping result of individual elements respectively. As shown in Fig. 4b, all observed elements have homogeneous distributions, which suggests that Ni2+ and F− ions were doped into LiMn2O4 crystal structure uniformly via the sol–gel route.
The long-term cyclic performance of all synthesized LiMn2O4 samples was firstly evaluated at room temperature (25 °C) under 1C charge/discharge rate and the results are exhibited in Fig. 6. Clearly, the improvement on the battery cyclic performance was achieved on all doped samples and the dual-doped samples even show more superior capability than un-ion doped samples. Especially, the 3N-5F sample delivers the highest capacity retention ratio (94.5%) while the pristine LiMn2O4, 0N-5F and 3N-0F samples preserve only 77.8%, 86.7% and 88.3% capacity retention ratio respectively. It is expected that the dual-doped sample might possess better crystal structure stability to realize higher electrochemical performance.29 Such structure stabilization of LiMn2O4 stems from two contributions: (i) stronger bond strength of the Ni–O (1029 kJ mol−1) than it of the Mn–O bond (946 kJ mol−1), which is expected to mitigate Jahn–Teller structure distortion effect, (ii) larger electronegativity thus greater attraction force, of F− ions than O2− ions to the cations. Note that slightly higher capacity retention achieved on single Ni doped sample (3N-0F) than single F doped sample (0N-5F) is likely due to increased Mn3+ amount which results in aggravated Jahn–Teller effect regardless of the enhanced structure stability by F doping.30 However, the dual-doped sample (3N-5F) manifests a synergistic effect to improve the electrochemical performance of LiMn2O4 compared to either undoped sample or single ion doped sample.
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| Fig. 6 Cyclic performances of Ni2+ and F− dual-doped LiMn2O4 samples at rate of 1C at room temperature (25 °C). | ||
We also studied cyclic performance of doped samples at elevated temperature (55 °C) under 1C discharge rate and the results are revealed in Fig. 7. As expected, all samples tested, especially undoped LiMn2O4, show inferior long-term cyclic performance at elevated temperature than when they were tested at room temperature. This is mainly because of aggravated Jahn–Teller effect caused by the high temperature along with the dissolution of Mn3+.7 Compared to undoped sample however, all doped sample show great improvement in terms of the capacity retention. To further elaborate, the first and 100th cycle discharge capacity together with the capacity retention ratio of all tested samples at both room and elevated temperatures are summarized in Table 2. Similar as its remarkable long-term cyclic performance at room temperature, the Ni and F dual-doped sample (3N-5F) exhibits the highest capacity retention rate (80.4%) even at elevated temperature. It is suspected that the synergistic effect of dual-doping, which suppresses the Jahn–Teller effect and the dissolution of Mn3+, leads to more stable crystal structure of LiMn2O4 and therefore enhanced long-term cyclic performance at both room and elevated temperatures.29,31–33 This further proves that dual element doping may be rendered as an effective approach to elongate the long-term cyclic performance of LiMn2O4 material.
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| Fig. 7 Cyclic performances of Ni2+ and F− dual-doped LiMn2O4 samples at rate of 1C at elevated temperature (55 °C). | ||
| Sample | Initial discharge capacity/mA h g−1 | 100th discharge capacity/mA h g−1 | Retention rate/% |
|---|---|---|---|
| (a) | |||
| 0N-0F | 116.3 | 90.4 | 77.8% |
| 0N-5F | 122.5 | 106.2 | 86.7% |
| 3N-0F | 114.6 | 101.2 | 88.3% |
| 3N-5F | 120.3 | 113.7 | 94.5% |
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| (b) | |||
| 0N-0F | 117.2 | 74.9 | 63.9% |
| 0N-5F | 121.1 | 90.6 | 74.8% |
| 3N-0F | 120.6 | 92.3 | 76.5% |
| 3N-5F | 127.1 | 102.2 | 80.4% |
Whether the battery material maintains significant capacity under high discharge rate is another criteria to rationalize doped LiMn2O4 samples with high electrochemical performance. To this end, the high rates (1C, 2C, 5C, 10C, 20C) cyclic performances of various doped samples were carried out and the results are as shown in Fig. 8. All samples display deteriorated capacity as the discharge current increases. This is well-known due to delayed/unaccommodated migration rate of Li ion as a result of abrupt extraction force subject to high discharge rate, i.e., high electrode polarization.33 When comparing the discharge capacity of all samples at high rates, the dual-doped sample (3N-5F) exhibits the best rate capability, delivering 118.4 mA h g−1, 115.3 mA h g−1, 110.5 mA h g−1, 102 mA h g−1 and 90.5 mA h g−1 at 1C, 2C, 5C, 10C and 20C respectively of the constant discharge capacity and it was 90.5 mA h g−1 even at 20C while the pristine LiMn2O4 declined to 75.8 mA h g−1. It can be seen that the capacity of the dual-doped sample (3N-5F) can recover to the initial value as long as the current density reverses back to a low rate. As the high discharge rate also causes electrode resistance ohmic polarization that reduces the electronic conductivity of the active material, it is believed that the synergistic effect of Ni and F dual-doping not only increases the migration rate of Li ion inside the active materials, but also gives rise to enhanced electronic conductivity, thus superior high rate electrochemical performance.
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| Fig. 8 Rate performance of various Ni2+ and F− dual-doped LiMn2O4 samples at room temperature (25 °C). | ||
The high rates (1C, 2C, 5C, 10C, 20C) cyclic performances of various doped samples at elevated temperature (55 °C) were carried out and the results are as shown as Fig. 9. All samples showed deteriorated capacity as the discharge current increases at elevated temperature. It can be seen that the dual-doped sample (3N-5F) exhibits the best rate capability among the samples and it was 78.9 mA h g−1 even at 20C with a bit of capacity fading when it returned to 1C. Note that the capacities fading on all samples under high discharge rate and temperature are due to the aggravated Jahn–Teller effect and the Ni and F dual-doping can suppresses the Jahn–Teller effect and the dissolution of Mn3+ leading to the preferable electrochemical property.
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| Fig. 9 Rate performance of various Ni2+ and F− dual-doped LiMn2O4 samples at elevated temperature (55 °C). | ||
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was further performed on various samples at certain periods of time (the 1st, 25th, 50th, 75th and the 100th cycles) during long-term cycle to probe the charge transfer kinetics within the battery material. The Nyquist plots along with the fitted equivalent circuit of the samples were shown in Fig. 10 and Table 3. In Fig. 10a, a high-frequency semi-circle and a low-frequency slope are seen as the typical spectrum of LiMn2O4 material. The semicircle in the high frequency region is attributed to dual-effect of the interface impedance that Li ions migration through the SEI film (Rf) along with the charge transfer resistance (Rct) while the inclined line in the low frequency region represents the Warburg impedance (W),31 which is associated with the diffusion of Li ion in electrode. It can be seen from Table 3 that the values of Rct for the doped samples are much lower than the undoped sample in despite of slight change of film resistance Rf. This is especially true for the dual-doped sample (3N-5F). On the other hand, the great reduction of Warburg impedance on doped samples over undoped one is an indicative of easier Li ion diffusion in bulk electrode materials.34 The above analysis is especially true for Ni and F dual-doped sample as it is capable of dwindling the charge transfer resistance and Warburg impedance by 62% and 53% respectively compared to pristine LiMn2O4 sample. This is believed due to increased migration rate and expanded diffusion channels for Li ions through Ni and F dual-doping and thus better electrochemical performance. Such finding is corroborated with Fig. 10b that shows the impedance growth rate of pristine LiMn2O4 is considerably higher than the doped samples, indicating that the doping would strengthen the structure stability of LiMn2O4 material and lead to more admirable electrochemical performance.24 Note that the EIS results are in good agreement with previous charge/discharge characteristic results of all samples.
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| Fig. 10 (a) The Nyquist plots of various Ni2+ and F− dual-doped LiMn2O4 samples during the first discharge (b) impedance changes with cycle. | ||
| Sample | Rf/Ω | Rct/Ω | W/Ω cm2 s−1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0N-0F | 10.9 | 107.5 | 78.9 |
| 0N-5F | 9.2 | 52.3 | 45.6 |
| 3N-0F | 9.5 | 55.8 | 51.7 |
| 3N-5F | 8.9 | 41.2 | 37.8 |
In order to explore the effect of dual-doping of Ni2+ and F− on spinel LiMn2O4, the typical cyclic voltammograms of the samples were performed using lithium as a counter and reference electrode in the voltage range of 3.0–4.4 V at a scan rate of 0.1 mV s−1 as shown in Fig. 11. The two obvious redox peaks were observed in all the samples stating that the insert–extract reaction of Li ion ended in two parts which conformed to the distinct characteristics of spinel LiMn2O4 and attested that the doping would not change its structure and reaction characteristics.6,18 It was observed that the potential difference between reduction and oxidation peak decreased of the doping samples and the potential difference represents the degree of reversibility of the insert–extract reaction which indicated that the degree of reversibility of the reaction was increased.15,35 The results implying that the dual-doping of Ni2+ and F− accelerated the diffusion velocity, enhanced the stability of LiMn2O4 crystal structure and the redox peak of the sample (3N-5F) was the sharpest demonstrating the fastest reaction velocity and the best electrochemical property which is in the accordance with the charge–discharge performance test results. These results indicate that the dual-doping samples enhanced the electrochemical property of LiMn2O4 materials.
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