Effect of transition metal composition on electrochemical performance of nickel-manganese-based lithium-rich layer-structured cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of transition metal composition on the electrochemical properties of Li-rich layer-structured cathode materials, Li1.2NixMn0.8−xO2 (x=0.2, 0.25, 0.3, and 0.4) were synthesized, and their electrochemical properties were investigated. As nickel content x increased in Li1.2NixMn0.8−xO2 (x=0.2, 0.25, 0.3, and 0.4), charge-discharge capacities at a low C-rate (0.05C) decreased. The results obtained by dQ/dV curves indicate that, as the nickel content increased, the discharge capacity below 3.6V greatly decreased, but that above 3.6V increased. As the C-rate of the discharge process increased, the discharge reaction of Li1.2NixMn0.8−xO2 (x=0.2) below 3.6V greatly decreased. In contrast, that above 3.6V slightly decreased. This indicates that the discharge reaction above 3.6V exhibits higher rate performance than that below 3.6V. For the high-nickel-content cathodes, the ratio of the discharge capacity above 3.6V to the total discharge capacity was high. Therefore, they exhibited high rate performance.