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High-energy cathode material for long-life and safe lithium batteries

Nature Materials volume 8, pages 320–324 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Layered lithium nickel-rich oxides, Li[Ni1−xMx]O2 (M=metal), have attracted significant interest as the cathode material for rechargeable lithium batteries owing to their high capacity, excellent rate capability and low cost1,2,3,4,5,6,7. However, their low thermal-abuse tolerance and poor cycle life, especially at elevated temperature, prohibit their use in practical batteries4,5,6. Here, we report on a concentration-gradient cathode material for rechargeable lithium batteries based on a layered lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide. In this material, each particle has a central bulk that is rich in Ni and a Mn-rich outer layer with decreasing Ni concentration and increasing Mn and Co concentrations as the surface is approached. The former provides high capacity, whereas the latter improves the thermal stability. A half cell using our concentration-gradient cathode material achieved a high capacity of 209 mA h g−1 and retained 96% of this capacity after 50 charge–discharge cycles under an aggressive test profile (55 ∘C between 3.0 and 4.4 V). Our concentration-gradient material also showed superior performance in thermal-abuse tests compared with the bulk composition Li[Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1]O2 used as reference. These results suggest that our cathode material could enable production of batteries that meet the demanding performance and safety requirements of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram of positive-electrode particle with Ni-rich core surrounded by concentration-gradient outer layer.
Figure 2: Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron-probe X-ray micro-analysis (EPMA) results.
Figure 3: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic data for the concentration-gradient Li[Ni0.64Co0.18Mn0.18]O2.
Figure 4: Charge–discharge characteristics of Li[Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1]O2, Li[Ni0.46Co0.23Mn0.31]O2 and concentration-gradient Li[Ni0.64Co0.18Mn0.18]O2.
Figure 5

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Global Research Network Program in collaboration with the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

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Author notes

  1. Yang-Kook Sun and Seung-Taek Myung: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Center for Information and Communication Material, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, South Korea

    Yang-Kook Sun & Byung-Chun Park

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Iwate University, 4-3-5 Ueda, Morioka, Iwate 020-8551, Japan

    Seung-Taek Myung

  3. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 10 West 33rd Street, Chicago 60616, USA

    Jai Prakash

  4. Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Electrochemical Technology Program, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

    Ilias Belharouak & Khalil Amine

Authors
  1. Yang-Kook Sun
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Correspondence to Yang-Kook Sun or Khalil Amine.

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Sun, YK., Myung, ST., Park, BC. et al. High-energy cathode material for long-life and safe lithium batteries. Nature Mater 8, 320–324 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2418

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