Raman study of layered rock-salt LiCoO2 and its electrochemical lithium deintercalation

Unpolarized and polarized Raman spectra (200–800 cm-1) of LiCoO2 with a layered rock-salt structure were measured. The Raman-active lattice modes of LiCoO2 were assigned by polarized Raman measurements of a c-axis oriented thin film. The variation of the Raman spectra of Li1-xCoO2 powder prepared by electrochemical lithium deintercalation was investigated, and the spectral changes were well correlated with the structural changes determined by x-ray diffraction except that peak splitting by the distortion in the monoclinic phase was not observed. The observed line broadening of the second hexagonal phase and the monoclinic phase indicated that the lithium ions remaining in the lattice after deintercalation randomly occupy the available sites on the lithium planes in the lattice the layered rock-salt structure. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.