Facile fabrication of LiMn2O4 microspheres from multi-shell MnO2 for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

A facile and convenient method is proposed to fabricate the LiMn2O4 microspheres from multi-shell MnO2. Comparing to the LiMn2O4 synthesized from commercial electrolytic MnO2 (EMD), the LiMn2O4 microspheres synthesized in this work exhibit a close-to-theory specific capacity of 145.9mAh/g at 0.2C, while the LiMn2O4 from commercial MnO2 only shows a value of 105.3mAh/g under the same testing conditions. LiMn2O4 microspheres also exhibit an excellent rate performance: 131.8 and 113.3mAh/g at 5 and 10C, respectively. This facile and convenient method to prepare LiMn2O4 microspheres provides a new way to fabricate lithium manganate cathode materials with high specific capacity and rate performance. [Display omitted] •MnO2 with a multi-shell structure is fabricated in a simple and facile way.•LiMn2O4 microspheres are successfully produced from multi-shell MnO2.•LiMn2O4 microspheres show a close-to-theory specific capacity.•LiMn2O4 microspheres also exhibit an excellent rate performance.