Electrochemical Properties of Layered LiMoO2 as Cathode for Li-Ion Batteries

With the development of new energy vehicles, it is necessary to develope new fast charging cathode materials for lithium ion batteries. This paper reports a simple carbon thermal reduction routine to synthesize layered LiMoO₂ cathode for Li-ion batteries. Impurity-free micro-crystalline powders were synthesized by one-step method with a thermal treatment at 800^°C for 5 hrs under N₂ atmosphere. The structural, morphological and electrochemical properties of LiMoO₂ were characterized by using X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), charge/discharge cycling and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The diffraction results indicate that the prepared sample has a layered hexagonal structure related to α-NaFeO₂. The secondary particles are in order of 2.0 μm length on average with homogeneous distribution. The initial discharge capacity of LiMoO₂ is 110.9 mAh·g^-1 at 0.1 C, and the capacity can still remain 92.8 mAh·g^-1 after 100 cycles. The good cycling performance and high rate discharge performance are attributed to the smaller charge-transfer resistance revealed by EIS results.