Electrochemical performance of ZnO-coated LiMn1.5Ni0.5O4 cathode material

LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ cathode material was prepared by sol–gel method and annealed at 850 °C for 15 h. The prepared powder was coated with ZnO by dissolving zinc acetate in methanol and LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ powder was mixed in this solution followed by the continuous stirring for 4 h. The LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ and ZnO-coated LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ powder was structurally characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The coin cell was fabricated using ZnO-coated LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ as cathode materials, LiPF₆, dissolved in ethylene carbonate (EC)/dimethyl carbonate (DMC) (1:1 wt ratio) as electrolyte, and Li foil as anode. It was found that ZnO-coated LiMn_1.5Ni_0.5O₄ cathode materials had the initial discharge capacity of about 146 mA h g⁻¹. The discharge capacity retention after 50 cycles was found to be nearly 97%.