Layered lithium-rich manganese oxide (LLO) cathode materials have attracted much attention for the development of high-performance lithium-ion batteries. However, they have suffered seriously from disadvantages, such as large irreversible capacity loss during the first cycle, discharge capacity decaying, and poor rate performance. Here, a novel method was developed to coat the surface of 0.4Li2MnO3∙0.6LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode material with reduced graphene-oxide (rGO) in order to address these drawbacks, where a surfactant was used to facilitate the well-wrapping of rGO. As a result, the modified LLO (LLO@rGO) cathode exhibits superior electrochemical performance including cycling stability and rate capability compared to the pristine LLO cathode. In particular, the LLO@rGO with a 0.5% rGO content can deliver a high discharge capacity of 166.3 mAh g-1 at a 5C rate. The novel strategy developed here can provide a vital approach to inhibit the undesired side reactions and structural deterioration of Li-rich cathode materials, and should be greatly useful for other cathode materials to improve their electrochemical performance.
Keywords: cathode material; co-precipitation; coating; layered lithium-rich manganese oxide.