Boosting the electrochemical performances of LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 cathodes via optimizing calcination temperature for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Abstract Exploration of high-performance cathode materials for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is highly desirable. The ternary layered oxide LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 (LNCM) is a promising cathode material for LIBs due to its high discharge voltage, large specific capacity, good thermostability and low cost. However, the LNCM cathode still has some limitations such as cationic mixing and low electronic conductivity, which result in poor cycling stability, fast voltage and capacity decay during high-rate cycling. To address these issues, we established a feasible sol-gel method combined with calcination to prepare LNCM, which can significantly improve the electrochemical activity of the LNCM cathode. The developed LNCM‒850/10 cathode displays an initial specific discharge capacity of 215.3 mAh g− 1 at a current rate of 0.2 C, and retains a high reversible capacity of 93.9 mAh g− 1 after 200 cycles. Furthermore, excellent high-rate charge-discharge capability and high-rate cycling performance are also observed in the LNCM‒850/10 cathode. These remarkable results are probably attributable to low Li+/Ni2+ cation mixing degree, good particle morphology and uniform particle size distribution of LNCM‒850/10, which effectively improves the electronic conductivity, lowers the charge transfer resistance, and simultaneously reduce Li+ diffusion distance and accelerate the insertion/extraction of Li+. Our study demonstrates that meticulous control of the calcination temperature of sol-gel synthesized LNCM precursors can boost the development of LNCM cathode suitable for advanced LIBs.