Reversible anionic redox and spinel-layered coherent structure enable high-capacity and long-term cycling of Li-rich cathode

Initiating effective strategies to improve the reversibility of anionic redox and structural stabilization is crucial to the development and industrial application of Li-rich cathode materials (LRO), which are regarded as the preferred option of the cathode materials for the next-generation lithium-ion battery with high energy density. To remit the unexpected behavior of structural destruction and capacity attenuation, this paper proposes a strategy for maintaining high specific capacity and improving the reversible anionic redox and stable cyclic performance of LRO by introducing the spinel-layered coherent structure and S-anions. Proved by the ex-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, S-anions can regulate the anionic redox reversibility and thus enhance the reversible discharge capacity and initial Coulombic efficiency. Moreover, the structural stability is greatly improved by the introduction of spinel-layered coherent structure and S-anions in LRO, which has been confirmed by abundant structural characterizations. Besides, the results reveal that the optimized material exhibits a high reversible discharge capacity of 289.52 mAh/g and good cyclic performance with a retention rate of 88.21% after 200 cycles. Evidently, the structure design strategy for LRO based on the reversible anionic redox and spinel-layered coherent structure is a significant exploration, which will bring a new clew for the design of the cathode materials with high-energy–density and excellent electrochemical performance.