Liquid-phase synthesis of uniformly nanosized LiMnPO₄ particles and their electrochemical properties for lithium-ion batteries

Uniformly nanosized particles of olivine LiMnPO₄ were prepared at 280 °C by liquid-phase synthesis using a high-boiling-point organic solution, and their electrochemical properties were investigated by charge and discharge measurements for the first time. TEM observation clarified that the resultant LiMnPO₄ particles had fairly uniform particle sizes of ca. 7 nm. The discharge curves of the nanosized LiMnPO₄ particles showed a monotonous decrease in voltage below 4 V, which was quite different from the clear plateau observed for conventional micrometer-sized LiMnPO₄ powder. Thus, uniformly nanosized particles of active materials are readily available for studying the particle-size effect on the electrochemical properties of Li-ion batteries.