Influence of different fuel agents on the combustion synthesis of the nanostructured Li1.05Mn2O4 oxide

Abstract

In this work nanostructured Li1.05Mn2O4 oxide was obtained by Solution Combustion Synthesis (SCS) using three different fuel agents in order to obtain a unique phase with a crystalline cubic structure belonging to the Fd3m spatial group. The phase of interest could be obtained, following the order: glycine (at 600 °C for 2 h) < urea (at 750 °C for 2 h) < maleic anhydride (at 750 °C for 4 h), with crystallite size in the range from 4.6 to 9.7 nm (nanometric character) and the unit cell parameter of the calcined samples at 750 °C for 2 h were similar to the JCPDS 35-0782 with cubic structure (a = 8.247 Å). Charge and discharge tests from the samples obtained by glycine fuel (at 750 °C for 4 h) presented the highest experimental specific capacities of 115 mA h g-1 and 92% of retention after 10 cycles.