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A theoretical framework for oxygen redox chemistry for sustainable batteries

Nature Sustainability volume 5, pages 708–716 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Lithium-rich layered oxides have emerged as a new model for designing the next generation of cathode materials for batteries to assist the transition to a greener energy system. The unique oxygen redox mechanism of such cathodes enables extra energy storage capacity beyond the contribution from merely transition metal ions; however, their practical application is hindered by the destabilizing structural changes during operation. Here we present a theoretical framework for the triptych of structural disorder, bond covalency and oxygen redox chemistry that applies to a wide range of layered oxides. It is revealed that structural disorder stabilizes the oxygen redox by promoting the formation of oxygen covalent bonds in favour of electrochemical reversibility. Oxygen dimers are found to move freely within the lattice structure and serve as a key catalyst of the poor structural resilience. Such fundamental understanding provides fresh insights that could inform strategies to mitigate the limitations of anionic redox cathodes, moving us a step closer to tapping into their enormous potential.

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Fig. 1: Bonding rearrangements associated with cation disordering in charge-transfer systems.
Fig. 2: Bonding rearrangements associated with cation disordering in Mott–Hubbard systems.
Fig. 3: Effects of bonding rearrangements on voltage profiles.
Fig. 4: Effects of oxygen dimerization and oxygen vacancy on electrochemical and structural reversibility.
Fig. 5: Voltage profiles considering structural disordering.

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The data supporting the findings of this study are provided in the article and its Supplementary Information and will be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (no. NRF-2019M3E6A1064522). This research was also supported by the Project Code 2021M3H4A1A04093050 through the NRF funded by the Korea government and the Institute for Basic Science (IBS-R006-A2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Institute of Advanced Materials (RIAM), Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Byunghoon Kim, Jun-Hyuk Song, Donggun Eum, Seungju Yu, Kyungbae Oh, Myeong Hwan Lee, Ho-Young Jang & Kisuk Kang

  2. Center for Nanoparticle Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Byunghoon Kim & Kisuk Kang

  3. Institute of Engineering Research, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Kisuk Kang

  4. School of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Institute of Chemical Process, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Kisuk Kang

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Contributions

B.K. and K.K. designed the project. B.K. performed first-principles calculations and analysed the data. J.-H.S. provided the fundamental idea for DFT calculations. D.E. and H.-Y.J. analysed the data with B.K.; S.Y. and K.O. provided technical assistance in performing AIMD calculations. M.H.L. provided a constructive idea to design computational models for AIMD calculations. B.K. and K.K. wrote the manuscript, and K.K. supervised all aspects of the research.

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Correspondence to Kisuk Kang.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Matthieu Saubanère and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Figs. 1–27, Notes 1–8 and Tables 1–6.

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Kim, B., Song, JH., Eum, D. et al. A theoretical framework for oxygen redox chemistry for sustainable batteries. Nat Sustain 5, 708–716 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00890-z

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