Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
A recently reported new phase of LiCoO2, called LT-LiCoO2 (LT stands for Low Temperature) by the discoverers, was synthesized at 400°C and studied using X-ray diffraction and electrochemical de-intercalation of lithium. The first reports of LT-LiCoO2 give convincing evidence that the compound is layered with the same structure type as LiCoO2 prepared at 850°C (HT-LiCoO2). However, the electrochemical properties of LT and HT LiCoO2 are markedly different, which is hard to understand if the crystal structures are almost the same. A better understanding of the diffraction and electrochemical data is attained if the LT structure is assumed to be spinel related analogous to Li2Ti2O4. We show that the layered structure (with suitable lattice constants and layer spacings) and spinel structure give identical powder diffraction patterns. We also show that the formation energies of the layered and spinel structures are also identical using a lattice gas model with pair-wise atom-atom interactions.