Development of a Synthesis Reactor with High Production Rate of Lithium Manganese Oxide Fine Particles

2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 15560650
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Properties in chemical engineering process/Transfer operation/Unit operation
• Research Institution: Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: TANIGUCHI Izumi Tokyo Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Associate Professor, 大学院・理工学研究科, 助教授 (00217126)
• Project Period (FY): 2003 – 2004
• Keywords: Spray Pyrolysis and Fluidized Bed Hybrid System / Lithium Manganese Oxides / Namostructured particles / Lithium Ion Batteries / Cathode Materials

Research Abstract

A novel technique has been developed to directly produce fine ceramics powders from liquid solution by a fluidized bed and spray pyrolysis hybrid system. Using this technique, the preparation of lithium manganese oxides LiMn_2O_4, which are the most promising cathode materials for lithium ion battery, has been carried out for various superficial gas velocities U_0=0.30-0.91 m/s, concentrations of precursor solution C_0=0.45-4.50 mol/dm^3 and static bed heights L_s=50-150 mm. The as-prepared samples exhibited a pure cubic spinel structure without any impurities in the XRD patterns, and the chemical composition of as-prepared powders showed in a good agreement with the one of precursor solution.
The as-prepared LiMn_2O_4 particles were used as cathode active materials for lithium-ion battery and electrochemical studies were carried out on the charge/discharge characteristics of the Li/LiMn_2C_4 cells. As a result, the LiMn_2O_4 particles, synthesized by the spray pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor, exhibited better discharge capacity and cycling behavior than those by the conventional spray pyrolysis and solid state reaction.