Preparation of High Capacity Cathode Material Li1.2Ni0.13Mn0.54Co0.13O2 Microspheres By Two-Step Spray-Dry Method for Lithium-Ion Batteries

As a promising cathode material for Li-ion batteries(LIBs), Li-rich layered oxide (donated as LLO) has been deeply concerned because of the superior performance and high energy density, however, it’s still suffering from structure deterioration during cycling and the irreversible removal of Li + in the initial cycle. Micron-sized spherical powders are mainly used as cathode materials due to the high tap density and volumetric energy density, through the spray-drying process can prepare the ideal morphology for LIBs. In this work, hierarchical nano/micro-sphere Li 1.2 Ni 0.13 Mn 0.54 Co 0.13 O 2 composites were synthesized by a two-step spray-dry method by using acetate materials and citric acid as a chelating agent in different molar ratios (transition metal ions (TM): citric acid = 3:1 / 3:2 / 3:3). Adding the CA chelating agent is beneficial to uniform distribution transition metal ions, better structural stability and electrochemical performance of the as-prepared lithium-rich materials. As the results, the morphology of Li 1.2 Ni 0.13 Mn 0.54 Co 0.13 O 2 is spherical and without aggregation occurred. The LLO with hierarchical nano/micro-sphere plays an important role in improving the coulombic efficiency in the first cycle and also enhance the capacity retention after cycling. After 3 cycles activation from 2~4.8V, the discharge capacities of the Li-rich composite samples with 3:1, 3:2, 3:3 ratios displayed 254mAh/g, 280mAh/g, and 267mAh/g, respectively. It was found that the discharge capacity of the LLO composite with the ratio = 3:2 shows the best electrochemical performance among samples. Keywords : Li-ion battery, Cathode material, Li-rich oxide, Spray-Dry, Hierarchical nano/micro-sphere