Low temperature synthesis of electrochemically active phases in the Li-Ti-O, Li-Mn-O and Li-Fe-Mn-O systems; their electrochemical characterization.

Abstract:
The project is focused on novel preparation of electrochemically active binary and ternary oxides Li-Ti-O, Li-Mn-O and Li-Mn-Fe-O by low temperature (t<200 °C) solution based synthetic routes. Various phases with primarily spinel structures will beprepared by solvothermal and sol-gel techniques with particular interest in controlled crystal size of the prepared materials (characteristic particle size 10 -1000 nm). Synthesized materials will be electrochemically characterized with respect to theiractivity towards lithium insertion and charge storage. The effect of solid-state materials characteristics (structure, crystal size etc.) on the specific insertion capacity, charge- and mass- reversibility of the Li insertion reaction, charge transferkinetics, diffusion properties, and long term cycling stability of synthesized phases will be determined. Resulting relationships will be used to propose synthetic routes for materials with tailored electrochemical properties.