High-Capacity, Aliovalently Doped Olivine LiMn<sub>1–3<i>x</i>/2</sub>V<sub><i>x</i></sub>□<sub><i>x</i>/2</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> Cathodes without
Carbon Coating
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Abstract
A substantial amount of Mn<sup>2+</sup> has been aliovalently substituted
by V<sup>3+</sup> in cation-deficient LiMn<sub>1–3<i>x</i>/2</sub>V<sub><i>x</i></sub>□<sub><i>x</i>/2</sub>PO<sub>4</sub> (0 ≤ <i>x</i> ≤ 0.20)
by a low-temperature (<300 °C) microwave-assisted solvothermal
(MW-ST) process. The necessity of a low-temperature synthesis to achieve
higher levels of doping is demonstrated as the solubility of vanadium
decreases with the formation of impurity phases on heating the samples
to ≥575 °C. Soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy reveals
enhanced Mn–O hybridization in the vanadium-doped samples,
which is believed to facilitate an increase in capacity with increasing
vanadium content in the lattice. For example, a high capacity of 155
mAh/g is achieved above a cutoff voltage of 3 V without any carbon
coating for the <i>x</i> = 0.2 sample. The vanadium substitution
enhances the overall kinetics of the material by lowering the charge-transfer
impedance and increasing the lithium-diffusion coefficient