Pre-lithiated Li_xMn₂O₄: A new approach to mitigate the irreversible capacity loss in negative electrodes for Li-ion battery

Hot topic of research today is to overcome the irreversible capacity loss (ICL) in high capacity anodes used in Li-ion battery. Several attempts have been exploited to overcome the ICL issue, but all of them involved time consuming and inevitable electrolyte decomposition. Here, we attempted to utilize the octahedral site of spinel cathode (ex. LiMn₂O₄) for the compensation of ICL when paired with conversion type anode, α-Fe₂O₃ nanorods. The performance of Li_1.26Mn₂O₄/α-Fe₂O₃ nanorods cell is compared with similar configurations fabricated without any electrode treatment and α-Fe₂O₃ treated one. Amongst, LiMn₂O₄ treated assembly showed promising results as compared with anode treated configuration.