Improved electrochemical performance of Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 cathode material synthesized by citric acid assisted sol-gel method for lithium ion batteries

A citric acid assisted sol-gel method is employed for synthesizing Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 used as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterizations prove that materials have a typical a-NaFeO2 structure with primary nano-sized particles. Electrochemical performances have been investigated by charge-discharge test and results show that the synthesized product exhibits excellent electrochemical performance with a high initial discharge capacity of 253.5 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 C and a preferable capacity retention of 84.8% after 50 cycles.