Synthesis of Li(Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3-xBax)O-2 cathode materials for lithium-ion rechargeable battery by glycine-nitrate combustion process

Journal article, 2019

This study was based on developing Li(Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3-xBax)O-2 (x=0.04, 0.08, 0.11, 0.22, and 0.33) materials by substituting expensive Co with Ba, for the use in the cathode of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Glycine-nitrate combustion method, which is a low-cost combustion technique, was employed to synthesize spherical shaped micron size secondary particles formed by densely agglomerated primary particles. The phase analysis performed by the X-ray diffractometry revealed the formation of the required layered phase of R-3m structure with trace amounts of a secondary phase. Furthermore, these Ba-substituted novel materials showed considerably higher electrical conductivity than those of the Li(Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3)O-2 base material. In the cell performance studies, the Ba-substituted cathode materials synthesized in this study showed slightly lower initial discharge capacity of 162.4mAhg(-1) but with considerably improved cycle performance compared to those of the Li(Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3)O-2 base material (187.7mAhg(-1)). More importantly, the Li(Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3-xBax)O-2, x=0.04 material clearly showed its ability to eliminate and prevent structural transformation usually associated with excess Li extraction at potentials above 4.5V. Therefore, the Li(Ni1/3Mn1/3Co1/3-xBax)O-2, x=0.04 material can be proposed as a potential candidate for the high-voltage cathode application of LIB.