Comparing Operando XRD and Dems to Investigate Metal-Substituted LiNiO2

Abstract

LiNiO₂ (LNO) has been introduced as cathode active material for Li‐ion batteries in 1990 [1]. After years of intensive research, it emerged that several instability issues plague the material, so that it was abandoned in favor of isostructural metal‐substituted compounds called NCA (for lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide) and NCM (lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide). These sacrifice a certain amount of specific energy in exchange for stability, durability and safety [2]. With few exceptions, NCA and NCM are nowadays the industrial standard when it comes to automotive applications. However, the continuous push towards electric cars with longer driving range is synonym, for these compounds, with increasing the nickel content (which is already beyond 80%), eventually leading back again to LiNiO₂. For this reason, we synthesized a series of LiNiO2 samples, where Ni is substituted by low amounts of other elements (< 5%). We implement a characterization strategy based on operando XRD, differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) and ex situ TEM, enabling us to track, in real time upon battery charge and discharge (i.e., as Li is extracted/inserted from/into LNO, respectively), the evolution of the material´s crystal structure, the transformation of its surface and the evolution of gaseous products. We place particular emphasis on the behavior of LNO at high state of charge (> 4.1 V), where the transition between the hexagonal phases H2 and H3, whose unit cell volume is very different, induces significant mechanical strain in the material [3]. The H2 and H3 phases are also thermodynamically metastable [4] and decompose towards off-stoichiometric Li1-zNi1+zO2, with release of O2[5], a reaction we can observe by DEMS and TEM. With this combined strategy, we aim at understanding which element, if any, can sufficiently stabilize LNO in the charged state. Bibliography Dahn, J.R., U. Vonsacken, and C.A. Michal, Structure and Electrochemistry of Li1+-yNiO2 and a New Li2NiO2 Phase with the Ni(OH)2 Structure. Solid State Ionics, 1990. 44(1-2): p. 87-97. Myung, S.-T., et al., Nickel-Rich Layered Cathode Materials for Automotive Lithium-Ion Batteries: Achievements and Perspectives. ACS Energy Letters, 2017. 2(1): p. 196-223. Yoon, C.S., et al., Structural Stability of LiNiO2 Cycled above 4.2 V. ACS Energy Letters, 2017. 2(5): p. 1150-1155. Das, H., et al., First-Principles Simulation of the (Li–Ni–Vacancy)O Phase Diagram and Its Relevance for the Surface Phases in Ni-Rich Li-Ion Cathode Materials. Chemistry of Materials, 2017. 29(18): p. 7840-7851. Bianchini, M., et al., There and back again - The journey of LiNiO2 as cathode active material. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl, 2018: p. 10.1002/anie.201812472.