Nanometer battery materials from explosives

Abstract

The growth of Li₁+xMn₂O₄ via detonation reaction was investigated with respect to the presence of energetic precursors, such as the metallic nitrates and the degree of confinement of the explosive charge. The detonation products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the products. Li₁+xMn₂O₄ with 1 ∼ 2μm spherical morphology and more uniform secondary particles, but with smaller primary particles of diameters from 20 to 60 nm and a variety of morphologies were found. The oxides produced by this cheap method affirmed the validity of detonation synthesis of nano-size powders.

Keywords:

• Crystal morphology
• nanostructures
• X-ray diffraction
• growth from high temperature solutions
• inorganic compounds
• lithium compounds
• manganites
• nanomaterials
• oxides

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Anhui Provincial Program for the Tackling Key Problem (07010302189), the Program for the Provincial Innovation Research and Development Team of Anhui Provincial Universities (TD200705), the Program for the University Innovation Research and Development Team of Anhui University of Science and Technology, the 2007 Municipal Natural Science Foundation of Huainan and the Doctoral Fund of Anhui University of Science and Technology.