A low cost single-crystalline LiNi0.60Co0.10Mn0.30O2 layered cathode enables remarkable cycling performance of lithium-ion batteries at elevated temperature

Abstract

Nickel-rich and low-cobalt content in layered ternary cathodes (NCM) is considered as a promising candidate for commercial lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Nevertheless, the traditional poly-crystalline NCM (PC-NCM) will inevitably go through intergranular cracks and structural collapse of the secondary spheres upon charge/discharge and thus result in serious performance degradation, limiting its practical application. Herein, we report a novel single-crystalline LiNi0.6Co0.1Mn0.3O2 (SC-NCM) with by far the lowest fabricating cost, and a remarkable long cycling performance under harsh conditions. Such a unique design can withstand 900 cycles at high compaction density (~3.0 g cm−3) without any cracks observed. Therefore, it exhibits a superior capacity retention of 87.4% after 150 cycles at an extremely elevated temperature (55 °C) and a high charging-voltage (4.4 V). A 10 Ah LiNi0.6Co0.1Mn0.3O2||graphite full cell delivers superior capacity retention of 73.9% after 900 cycles at 45 °C, where the highest cathode loading level (40.5 mg cm−2) and area capacity (6.48 mAh cm−2), outperforming the state-of-the-art SC-NCMs reported in literatures. This work provides a promising strategy for the development of high-energy and long-term cycle stability LIBs through controlling micron-sized single crystal particles as well as the Ni/or Co content in SC-NCM.