A New Co-Free Ni-Rich LiNi0.8Fe0.1Mn0.1O2 Cathode for Low-Cost Li-Ion Batteries

Yukun Xi; Mingjun Wang; Le Xu; Hirbod Maleki Kheimeh Sari; Wenbin Li; Junhua Hu; Yanyan Cao; Liping Chen; Linzhe Wang; Xiaohua Pu; Jingjing Wang; Yikun Bai; Xingjiang Liu; Xifei Li

doi:10.1021/acsami.1c18303

A New Co-Free Ni-Rich LiNi_0.8Fe_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ Cathode for Low-Cost Li-Ion Batteries

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Dec 8;13(48):57341-57349. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c18303. Epub 2021 Nov 22.

Authors

Yukun Xi^{1

2

3}, Mingjun Wang¹, Le Xu⁴, Hirbod Maleki Kheimeh Sari^{2

3}, Wenbin Li^{2

3}, Junhua Hu⁵, Yanyan Cao^{2

3}, Liping Chen^{2

3}, Linzhe Wang^{2

3}, Xiaohua Pu^{2

3}, Jingjing Wang^{2

3}, Yikun Bai^{2

3}, Xingjiang Liu⁶, Xifei Li^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Automation and Information Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi710048, P. R. China.
² Xi'an Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials and Devices, Institute of Advanced Electrochemical Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi710048, P. R. China.
³ Shaanxi International Joint Research Center of Surface Technology for Energy Storage Materials, Xi'an, Shaanxi710048, P. R. China.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai200237, P. R. China.
⁵ Center for International Cooperation on Designer Low-Carbon & Environmental Materials (CDLCEM), Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan450001, P. R. China.
⁶ Science and Technology on Power Sources Laboratory, Tianjin Institute of Power Sources, Tianjin300384, P. R. China.

PMID: 34806873
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c18303

Abstract

In recent years, with the rapid development of electric vehicles, the ever-fluctuating cobalt price has become a decisive constraint on the supply chain of the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery industry. To address these challenges, a new and unreported cobalt-free (Co-free) material with a general formula of LiNi_0.8Fe_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ (NFM) is introduced. This Co-free material is synthesized via the coprecipitation method and examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and density functional theory (DFT) to investigate the morphological, crystal-structure, and electrochemical properties. The NFM cathode can deliver a specific capacity of 202.6 mA h g^-1 (0.1C, 3.0-4.5 V), a specific energy capacity of 798.8 W h kg^-1 in material level (0.1C, 3.0-4.5 V), a reasonable rate capability, and a stable cycling performance (81.1% discharge capacity retention after 150 cycles at 10C, 3.0-4.3 V). Although the research on this subject is still in its early stage, the capability of this novel cathode material as a practical candidate for applications in next-generation Co-free lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is highlighted in this study.

Keywords: Co-free; Li-ion batteries; LiNi0.8Fe0.1Mn0.1O2; Ni-rich; cathode.