Influence of Rare-Earth Substitution on the Crystal and Electronic Properties of a Li^sub 2^MnO3 Battery Cathode

Rare-earth Nd, Ce and Yb substitutions into the Li^sub 2^MnO3 structure via the general formula Li^sub 2^Mn^sub x^(Nd, Ce, Yb)^sub 1-x^O3 were investigated according to the crystal structure transitions and the influences on their electronic structure properties. The results of the x-ray diffraction patterns were studied in coordination with the electronic structure properties by the x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy technique. 4f levels were selected as the main playground in the study due to their interesting relations yielding fruitful physical phenomena in the materials that were reported in so many studies. Among the substituted samples, the sample for Ce 80% was determined to be the most interesting sample showing band broadening with the strongest overlapped electronic levels that built larger molecular bands.