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Elucidating the Key Factors in Ni-Rich Layered Materials: Structural Behavior, Redox Chemistry, and Electrochemical Performance

Monday, 1 October 2018: 08:30
Galactic 8 (Sunrise Center)
W. Lee, J. Kim, K. Kwon, and W. S. Yoon (Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University)
An increase in the amount of nickel in LiMO2 (M = Ni, Co, Mn) layered system is actively pursued in lithium ion batteries (LIBs) to achieve higher capacity. Nevertheless, fundamental effects of Ni element in the three-component layered system have not been systematically studied. Therefore, to unravel the role of Ni as a major contributor to the structural and electrochemical properties of Ni-rich materials, Co-fixed LiNi0.5+xCo0.2Mn0.3-xO2 (x = 0, 0.1, and 0.2) layered materials were investigated. The results, on the basis of synchrotron-based characterization techniques, present a decreasing trend of Ni2+ content in Li layer with increasing total Ni contents. Moreover, it is discovered that the chex.-lattice parameter of layered system is not in close connection with the inter-slab thickness related to actual Li ion pathway. The inter-slab thickness increases with increasing Ni concentration even though the chex.-lattice parameter decreases. Furthermore, the lithium ion pathway is preserved in spite of the fact that the c-axis is collapsed at highly de-intercalated states. Also, a higher Ni content material shows better structural properties such as larger inter-slab thickness, lower cation disorder, and smoother phase transition, resulting in better electrochemical properties including higher Li diffusivity and lower overpotential when comparing materials with lower Ni content. In addition, some other topics will be discussed in the meeting such as the relationship between the anionic redox chemistry and the structural behavior, and the effect of the particle size on the layered cathode materials.