Electrochemical performance of LBO-coated spinel lithium manganese oxide as cathode material for Li-ion battery

Surface treatment of the lithium manganese oxide cathode material coated by lithium borate glass (Li2O–2B2O3) with improved electrochemical cyclability and structural stability was conducted in this study. The lithium manganese oxide powder doped with various weight percentages of LBO glass was calcined to form a fine powder with single spinel phase, exhibiting different particle size, size distribution and morphology. The surface area decreased with the content of the LBO glass. The average particle size was in the range of 3–8 μm. Cyclic charge/discharge testing of the coin cells, fabricated by lithium manganese oxide and 0.4 wt.% LBO-coated lithium manganese oxide as cathode material, provided the initial discharge capacity of 95.57 and 119.79 mAh/g, respectively. Furthermore, the 0.4 wt.% LBO-coated lithium manganese oxide powder retained 93% of its original capacity after 10 cycles, showing much better cyclability than the uncoated lithium manganese oxide. It is demonstrated that the LBO-coated lithium manganese oxide cathode material exhibited high discharge capacity and the fading rate was evidently decreased after cyclic test.