High-energy X-ray powder diffraction and atomic-pair distribution-function studies of charged/discharged structures in carbon-hybridized Li2MnSiO4 nanoparticles as a cathode material for lithiumion batteries

The stable cycling performance with a high discharge capacity of similar to 190 mAh g(-1) in a carbon-hybridized Li2MnSiO4 nanostructured powder has prompted an experimental investigation of the charged/discharged structures using synchrotron-based and laboratory-based X-rays and atomic-pair distributionfunction (PDF) analyses. A novel method of in-situ spray pyrolysis of a precursor solution with glucose as a carbon source enabled the successful synthesis of the carbon-hybridized Li2(M)nSiO(4) nanoparticles. The XRD patters of the discharged (lithiated) samples exhibit a long-range ordered structure characteristic of the (beta) Li2MnSiO4 crystalline phase (space group Pmn2(1)) which dissipates in the charged (delithiated) samples. However, upon discharging the long-range ordered structure recovers in each cycle. The disordered structure, according to the PDF analysis, is mainly due to local distortions of the MnO4 tetrahedra which show a mean Mn-O nearest neighbor distance shorter than that of the long-range ordered phase. These results corroborate the notion of the smaller Mn3+/Mn4+ ionic radii in the Li extracted phase versus the larger Mn2+ ionic radius in Li inserted phase. Thus Li extraction/insertion drives the fluctuation between the disordered and the long-range ordered structures. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.