Li1.14Mn0.53Ni0.28Co0.19Oy layered-Layered Spinel Material Prepared Using Taylor Vortex Reactor

In this work, precursor for Li_1.14Mn_0.53Ni_0.28Co_0.19O_ylayered-layered spinel cathode material was synthesized by carbonate co-precipitation method using a Taylor Vortex reactor. In a similar fashion, we also utilize a 20L continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) to produce and compare the cathode materials with same composition.

Recently, layered-layered spinel structures are explored to mitigate the voltage fade issue to some extent. Even though these materials deliver lower capacities than the Li- and Mn- rich (LMR-NMC) materials, they have the key feature of “spinel induced” structures which make the voltage fade relatively less compared to LMR-NMC materials.

Here, by adopting Taylor Vortex reactor, we demonstrate that the usage of Taylor Vortex Flow shows good advantages to produce highly crystalline, spherical and dense cathode precursors in a relatively short residence time compared to CSTR.

The particle size and distribution of the synthesized cathode powders are analyzed using particle size analyzer (PSA) and are confirmed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The composition and the phase determination of the cathode materials are characterized by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). These cathode materials were electrochemically tested using Voltage Fade protocol of Argonne National Laboratory.