Li-Mn-O aerogels

The Li-Mn-O materials described here were obtained by drying liquid gels at low-surface tension conditions, a process which produces high surface area disordered materials in which the microporous structure can be controlled with simple manipulations of the parent gel. The technique of synthesis is simple, inexpensive, and in general may be applied to other intercalation c ompounds synthesized via sol-gel routes. The aerogels offer a direct way to study the interconnected solid network assembled by sol-gel processes, whi ch would collapse if processed by normal dehydration. Since the interconnec ted solid network is preserved in the aerogel, the properties such as high specific surface area and high specific energy observed in the aerogel repr esent inherent properties of the network formed in the liquid gel stage. (C ) 1999 The Electrochemical Society. S1099-0062(99)05-029-4. All rights rese rved.