The electronic and magnetic structures and the thermodynamics of cation distribution in the LiMn2O4 spinel

Abstract

The electronic and magnetic structures and the inversion thermodynamics of bulk lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) has been investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The spinel structured LiMn2O4 is a candidate material for the cathode of secondary lithium-ion batteries with good lithium diffusion properties and less toxicity than currently commercialised counterparts. This work involved studying the inversion thermodynamics and the electronic and magnetic properties of the completely normal and fully inverse LiMn2O4. The data described here are ASCII files containing the density of states, atomic charges and spin moments of the extreme cation distributions. Calculations were carried out using the Vienna Ab-initio Simulation Package (VASP).