Charge compensation and oxidation in NaxCoO2−δ and LixCoO2−δ studied by XANES

A comparative study on the oxidation and charge compensation in the AxCoO2−δ systems, A=Na (x=0.75, 0.47, 0.36, 0.12) and Li (x=1, 0.49, 0.05), using X-ray absorption spectroscopy at O 1s and Co 2p edges is reported. Both the O 1s and Co 2p XANES results show that upon removal of alkali metal from AxCoO2−δ the valence of cobalt increases more in LixCoO2−δ than in NaxCoO2−δ. In addition, the data of O 1s XANES indicate that charge compensation by oxygen is more pronounced in NaxCoO2−δ than in LixCoO2−δ.