Structural, morphological and electrochemical characterization of electron beam deposited Li 1+xMn2O4 (x = 0, 0.05) thin films

Li1+xMn2O4 (x = 0, 0.05) powders were synthesized using the microwave assisted co-precipitation method. Materials were evaporated using an electron beam gun. Structural analyses of thin films coated over platinum substrates revealed their cubic structure. The lattice constant of Li1.05Mn2O4 thin film was found to be around 8.2475 A. The lattice constant of Li1.05Mn2O4 Powder was found to be 8.2488 A. Morphological properties of the coated films were studied by SEM and the obtained micrographs were analyzed using the Image-j software. The roughness and the porosity were observed to be higher for the samples containing an excess of Li. The thin films were subjected to electrochemical characterization in aqueous LiNO3 solution; cyclic voltammograms obtained for the samples revealed two sets of well defined redox peaks around 0.07 and 0.1 V in LiNO3 solution. The redox peaks in Li1.05Mn2O4 thin film samples had lower intensities than those of the stochiometric compound.