Synthesis and characterization of metal (Fe, Al or Mg) doped Li[Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3]O2 particle by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Spherical metal (Fe, Al or Mg) doped Li[Ni(1/3)Mn(1/3)Co(1/3)]O(2) precursor powders were synthesized by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis using aqueous solution of metal nitrate. XRD, SEM and BET analysis were used for determination of the composition, morphology, particle size and surface area. SEM observation showed that the size of as-prepared particles were about 0.9 mu m with narrow size distribution. The crystal phase of metal (Fe, Al or Mg) doped Li[Ni(1/3)Mn(1/3)Co(1/3)]O(2) was resulted in layered rock salt structure with R (3) over barm space group after calcinations at 1023 K, 10 hrs. No impurity-related peaks are observed from the XRD pattern with various doping metals. Mg and Al doped Li(Ni(1/3)Co(1/3)Mn(1/3))O(2) showed a very good cycling stability. The Mg substitution for Ni led to the most excellent results. On the other hand, the capacity fading on cycling was observed for Fe(5%, substitution for Mn) and Mg(30%, substitution for Co and Mn) doped Li (Ni(1/3)Co(1/3)Mn(1/3))O(2).