Abstract
Nickel-rich layered metal oxide LiNi1-y-zMnyCozO2 (1-y-z ≥ 0.8) materials are the most promising cathodes for next-generation lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles. However, they lose more than 10% of their capacity on the first cycle, and interfacial/structural instability causes capacity fading. Coating and substitution are possible direct and effective solutions to solve these challenges. In this Letter, Nb coating and Nb substitution on LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 (NMC811) is easily produced through a scalable wet chemistry method followed by sintering from 400 to 800 °C. A Li-free Nb oxide treatment is found to remove surface impurities forming a LiNbO3/Li3NbO4 surface coating, to reduce the first capacity loss and to improve the rate performance. Nb substitution stabilizes the structure, as evidenced by less heat evolution on heating, thus providing better long cycling stability with a 93.2% capacity retention after 250 cycles.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1377-1382 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | ACS Energy Letters |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 9 2021 |
Funding
This work was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Vehicle Technologies of the U.S. Department of Energy, through the Advanced Battery Materials Research Program: at Binghamton University Award No. DE-EE0007765 (Battery500 Consortium), and at Brookhaven National Laboratory Award No. DE-SC0012704. This research used resources of the DOE Office of Science User Facilities at the National Synchrotron Light Source II, operated by Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704, and at the Spallation Neutron Source operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
