Soft X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure Analysis on Lithium Manganese Oxide Prepared by Microwave Heating

Microwave heating, which is recognized as a time-saving and an energy-efficient process, was used to synthesize manganese oxide from various starting materials. LiOH and MnO₂ (electrochemically prepared manganese dioxide, EMD) were used as starting materials; ε-MnO₂-type lithium manganese oxide that showed excellent cycle ability was the result of 3 min of microwave heating. A change in electronic structure was investigated using manganese L -edge and oxygen K -edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The XAS results indicated that the oxidation-reduction reaction took place in the manganese 3 d and in the oxygen 2 p orbitals during the charge-discharge process and that Jahn-Teller distortion occurred in the reduced samples.