Enhancing the overcharged performance of Li(Ni0.8Co0.15Al0.05)O2 electrodes by CeO2-Al2O3 surface coating

• A core-shell structure of NCA coated with CeO 2 -Al 2 O 3 is synthesized. • The prepared sample delivers high specific capacity and cycling stability. • The coating CeO 2 -Al 2 O 3 layer replenishes lattice oxygen of NCA. The nickel-rich cathode materials (LiNi 0.8 Co 0.15 Al 0.05 O 2 , NCAs) in Lithium ion batteries often suffer from oxygen loss problems under partially overcharged conditions (>4.3 V), leading to capacity fading and safety problem. Herein, we utilize a facile ball-milling method to coat the NCAs with a shell of cerium aluminum composite oxide (CeO 2 -Al 2 O 3 ), which is commonly used as oxygen storage material. Proved by in situ X-ray diffraction results, the coating CeO 2 -Al 2 O 3 layer is capable to suppress the lattice volume change and irreversible phase transition of NCAs. The CeO 2 -Al 2 O 3 coating layer can adsorb released oxygen under overcharged conditions and replenish lattice oxygen of NCAs under oxygen-leaned conditions. The protective layer can also prevent dissolution of the transition metals caused by HF attack in electrolytes. As a result, the as prepared electrode presents high specific capacity of 186.4 mA h g −1 and excellent cycle stability with capacity retention of 94.1% after 300 cycles at a rate of 0.5 C under overcharged conditions (3.0–4.5 V). Coating CeO 2 -Al 2 O 3 is an efficient strategy to solve capacity fading problem and safety problem caused by partially overcharge, and such strategy shows significant promise for practical applications.