title: Chemical delithiation and exfoliation of [Formula: see text].
abstract: Progressive chemical .delithiation of commercially available lithium cobalt oxide ([Formula: see text]) showed consecutive changes in the crystal properties. Rietveld refinement of high resolution X-ray and neutron diffraction revealed an increased lattice parametercand a reduced lattice parameterafor chemically delithiated samples. Using electron microscopy we have also followed the changes in the texture of the samples towards what we have found is a critical layer stoichiometry of about [Formula: see text] withx=1/3 that causes the grains to exfoliate. The pattern of etches by delithiation suggests that unrelieved strain fields may produce chemical activity.
authors.affiliation: Center of Sustainable Energy Systems, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.|Institute of Physics, University of Graz, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basch
authors.affiliation: Applied Mathematics, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: Liliana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Campo
authors.affiliation: Graz University of Technology, A-8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Jörg H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Albering
authors.affiliation: Research School of Chemistry, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: White
keywords: Chemical delithiation; Intercalation; Li-ion Battery; Neutron diffraction; Rietveld refinement