Crystal chemical investigation of nano inclusion in LiMn 2 O 4 cathode material of lithium ion battery

In this study, LiMn 2 O 4 was fabricated with “Nano Inclusions” and the detailed crystal structure of the sample was studied by HAADF-STEM observation with an electron beam tilted to the specimen, electron diffraction, HRTEM observation. HAADF-STEM observation and electron diffraction revealed that the “Nano Inclusions” were located within single LiMn 2 O 4 crystals. HRTEM observation clarified that the (100) plane of LiMn 2 O 4 and the (110) plane of ZnMn 2 O 4 have a common cubic close-packed oxygen arrangement and connect to each other without forming grain boundaries, due to similar atomic arrangements of LiMn 2 O 4 along the 〈100〉 direction and of ZnMn 2 O 4 along the [110] and [11̄0] direction.