Synthesis and electrochemical properties of nanostructured LiCoO2 fibers as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Nanostructured LiCoO2 fibers were prepared by the sol-gel related electrospinning technique using metal acetate and citric acid as starting materials. The transformation from the xerogel fibers to the LiCoO2 fibers and the nanostructure of LiCoO2 fibers have been investigated in detail. The LiCoO2 fibers with 500 nm to 2 mum in diameter were composed of polycrystalline nanoparticles in sizes of 20-35 nm. Cyclic voltammetry and charge-discharge experiments were applied to characterize the electrochemical properties of the fibers as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The cyclic voltammogram curves indicated faster diffusion and migration of Li+ cations in the nanostructured LiCoO2 fiber electrode. In the first charge-discharge process, the LiCoO2 fibers showed the initial charge and discharge capacities of 216 and 182 (mA.h)/g, respectively. After the 20th cycle, the discharge capacity decreased to 123 (mA.h)/g. The X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses indicated that the large loss of capacity of fiber electrode during the charge-discharge process might mainly result from the dissolution of cobalt and lithium cations escaping from LiCoO2 to form the crystalline Li2CO3 and CoF2 impurities.