Combinatorial Synthesis of Mixed Transition Metal Oxides for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Many methods exist for the synthesis of lithium metal oxides for use as positive electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries; however, no such method to date is both combinatorial (able to process broad ranges of compositional space quickly and efficiently) and well-studied to ensure confidence in the procedure. This study develops a procedure for microliter-scale solution-processing synthesis using a combinatorial solutions-processing robot. Two compositional systems (LiNi(x)Mn(2-x)O(4) and Li-Al-Mn oxide) were synthesized to compare the method to existing syntheses to ensure confidence in the procedure. Samples produced by this new synthetic procedure have crystal structures and lattice constants that closely match those of bulk-prepared samples found in the literature.