Surface Treatment of the Lithium Boron Oxide Coated LiMn<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> Cathode Material in Li-Ion Battery

Surface modification on the electrode has a vital impact on lithium-ion batteries, and it is essential to probe the mechanism of the modified film on the surface of the electrode. In this study, a Li2O-2B2O3 film was coated on the surface of the cathode material by solution method. The cathode powders derived from co-precipitation method were calcined with various weight percent of the surface modified glass to form fine powder of single spinel phase with different particle size, size distribution and morphology. The thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis was used to evaluate the appropriate heat treatment temperature. The structure was confirmed by the X-ray diffractometer along with the composition measured by the electron probe microanalyzer. From the field emission scanning electron microscope image and Laser Scattering measurements, the average particle size was in the range of 7-8µm. The electrochemical behavior of the cathode powder was examined by using two-electrode test cells consisted of a cathode, metallic lithium anode, and an electrolyte of 1M LiPF6. Cyclic charge/discharge testing of the coin cells, fabricated by both coated and un-coated cathode material, provided high discharge capacity. Furthermore, the coated cathode powder showed better cyclability than the un-coated one after the cyclic test. The introduction of the glass-coated cathode material revealed high discharge capacity and appreciably decreased the decay rate after cyclic test.