Enhancing the Thermal and Upper Voltage Performance of Ni-Rich Cathode Material by a Homogeneous and Facile Coating Method: Spray-Drying Coating with Nano-Al2O3

The electrochemical performance of Ni-rich cathode material at high temperature (>50 °C) and upper voltage operation (>4.3 V) is a challenge for next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of the rapid capacity degradation over cycling. Here we report improved performance of LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 materials via a LiAlO2 coating, which was prepared from a Ni0.80Co0.15Al0.05(OH)2 precursor by spray-drying coating with nano-Al2O3. Investigations by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy revealed that an Al2O3 layer is uniformly distributed on the precursor and a LiAlO2 layer on the as-prepared cathode material. Such a coating shell acts as a scavenger to protect the cathode material from attack by HF and serious side reactions, which remarkably enhances the cycle performance at 55 °C and upper operating voltage (4.4 and 4.5 V). In particular, the sample with a 2% Al2O3 coating shows capacity retentions of 90.40%, 85.14%, 87.85%, and 81.1% after 150 cycles at a rate of 1.0C at room temperature, 55 °C, 4.4 V, and 4.5 V, respectively, which are significantly higher than those of the pristine one. This is mainly due to the significant improvement of the structural stability led by the effective coating technique, which could be extended to other cathode materials to obtain LIBs with enhanced safety and excellent cycling stability.