A rapid coprecipitation process combining microwave irradiation and surfactant is used to synthesize high-capacity lithium–manganese-rich oxide cathode for lithium batteries. Surfactant micelles provide morphology control and microwave boosts the reaction time. A specific capacity of 249 mAh g⁻¹ is observed for a cathode prepared with 15 min of microwave and certain surfactant concentration.

Lithium–manganese-rich oxides (LMRO) are competitive types of cathode materials for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries with high theoretical specific capacity and energy density. In this work, the LMRO cathode material is prepared through a rapid microwave assisted solvothermal process in combination with a commercially available surfactant, aimed to form crystal grains of uniform sizes within the reduced processing time. The microwave induces molecule vibrations throughout the reaction media, significantly boosts the intermolecular collisions, and the surfactant micelles can regulate the sizes of crystalline seeds. The optimized quantity of surfactant enables the precipitation process to be further accelerated, and the final product with increased R-3m phase exhibited 210 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹ and a capacity retention of about 83.89% over 100 charge–discharge cycles working with lithium metal anodes. These results suggest that surfactant inclusion and microwave processing can significantly boost the synthesis process of layered cathode materials with enhanced performance.