Construction of Planar Gliding Restriction Buffer and Kinetic Self-Accelerator Stabilizing Single-Crystalline LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2 Cathode.

Abstract

The single-crystalline Ni-rich cathode has aroused much attention for extenuating the cycling and safety crises in comparison to the polycrystalline cathode. However, planar gliding and kinetic hindrance hinder its chemo-mechanical properties with cycling, which induce delamination cracking and damage the mechanical integrity in single crystals. Herein, a robust Li2.64(Sc0.9Ti0.1)2(PO4)3 (LSTP) ion/electron conductive network was constructed to decorate single-crystal LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2 (SC90) particles. Via physicochemical characterizations and theoretical calculations, this LSTP coating that evenly grows on the SC90 particle with good lattice matching and strong bonding effectively restricts the anisotropic lattice collapse along the c-axis and the cation mixing activity of SC90, thus suppressing planar gliding and delamination cracking during repeated high-voltage lithiation/delithiation processes. Moreover, such a 3D LSTP network can also facilitate the lithium-ion transport and prevent the electrolyte's corrosion, lightening the kinetic hindrance and triggering the surface phase transformation. Combined with the Li metal anode, the LSTP-modified SC90 cell exhibits a desirable capacity retention of 90.5% at 5 C after 300 cycles and stabilizes the operation at 4.3/4.5 V. Our results provide surface modification engineering to mitigate planar gliding and kinetic hindrance of the single-crystalline ultra-high Ni-rich cathode, which inspires peers to design other layered cathode materials.