Li-Mn-O aerogels

The Li-Mn-O materials described here were obtained by drying liquid gels at low-surface tension conditions, a process which produces high surface area disordered materials in which the microporous structure can be controlled with simple manipulations of the parent gel. The technique of synthesis is simple, inexpensive, and in general may be applied to other intercalation compounds synthesized via sol-gel routes. The aerogels offer a direct way to study the interconnected solid network assembled by sol-gel processes, which would collapse if processed by normal dehydration. Since the interconnected solid network is preserved in the aerogel, the properties such as high specific surface area and high specific energy observed in the aerogel represent inherent properties of the network formed in the liquid gel stage

Electrochemical and synchrotron XAS studies of lithium intercalation into vanadium pentoxide aerogels and nanocomposites

Vanadium pentoxide aerogels are pillared nanocomposites with exceptional stability, intercalation capacity, and reversibility. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements on pristine and doped materials have revealed details of the oxidation state and local structure of the host material and of the polyvalent doping species. XANES measurements at the Cu K-edge for Cu0.1 V2O5 show the atomic level reversibility of the structure upon Li+ insertion/release cycling. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V