Dissolution Kinetics of Spinel Lithium Manganate and its Relation to Capacity Fading in Lithium Ion Batteries

Abstract

The dissolution behavior and kinetics of spinel lithium manganate LiMn2O4 with different particle sizes have been investigated in this study. The dissolution of manganese cations from LiMn2O4 is confirmed to occur when LiMn2O4 particles are immersed in the electrolytes. The amount of dissolved manganese ions markedly increases with a rise in temperature and a decrease in particle size, which implies that the capacity fading of LiMn2O4 at elevated temperatures is associated with manganese dissolution. On the basis of the isothermal analysis of reaction kinetics, the rate of manganese dissolution from LiMn2O4 is dominated by the rate of dissolution reaction. Smaller particles exhibit a larger reaction rate constant and higher activation energy of the dissolution process than the larger ones. Therefore, an increase in temperature has a more pronounced effect on the dissolution reaction of small particles than on that of large particles.