(Invited) Slug-Flow Manufacturing of Uniform and Tunable Battery Cathode Materials

Abstract

The main goal of this research is to develop a low-cost scalable continuous manufacturing platform for Ni-rich cathodes. In this work, we demonstrate the synthesis and electrochemical performance of Ni-rich layered oxide [Li[Ni0.8Mn0.1Co0.1]O2 (NMC811)], an efficient low-cobalt cathode for the next generation lithium-ion batteries using a three-phase slug-flow reactor.1-5 The slug flow reactor is used to continuously produce uniform, high purity NMC811 with spherical morphology using oxalate precursor chemistry. The precursor material is then reacted with Li salts to prepare high purity cathode materials. The as-prepared NCM811 possess a high tap density of 2.4 g mL-1 and a high specific capacity of 202 mAh g-1 at 0.1C.5 A novel coating method has been developed to produce a stable LiF layer on the cathode surface to improve the cycling stability of the material.6 This work will discuss in detail about the synthesis procedure, microstructural and electrochemical performance of the cathode material produced by the slug flow manufacturing process. This demonstration provides a pathway towards scaling up the cathode synthesis process for large-scale energy storage applications.3 AcknowledgementsThis research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office, the National Science Foundation (Grant No. CMMI-1940948). Battery testing research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. References Mou, A. Patel, S. Mallick, B. P. Thapaliya, M. P. Paranthaman, J. Mugumya, M. L. Rasche, R. B. Gupta, S. Saleh, S. Kothe, E. Baral, G. P. Pandey, H. Lopez, M. Jiang, “Scalable advanced Li(Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1)O2 cathode materials from a slug-flow continuous process,” ACS Omega 7 (46) 42408-42417 (2022)Jiang, Z. Zhu, E. Jimenez, C. D. Papageorgiou, J. Waetzig, A. Hardy, M. Langston and R. D. Braatz. “Continuous-flow tubular crystallization in slugs spontaneously induced by hydrodynamics”. Cryst. Growth Des. 14, 851–860 (2014).Mou, and M. Jiang. “Fast continuous non-seeded cooling crystallization of glycine in slug flow: Pure α-form crystals with narrow size distribution”. J. Pharm. Innov. 15, 281–294 (2020). Mallick, A. Patel, X-G. Sun,M. P. Paranthaman, M. Mou, J. Mugumya, M. Jiang, M. L. Rasche, H. Lopez, and R. B. Gupta, "Low-cobalt active cathode materials for high-performance lithium-ion batteries: synthesis and performance enhancement methods," J. Mater. Chem. A 11, 3789-3821 (2023).Mou, A. Patel, S. Mallick, K. Jayanthi, X. -G. Sun, M. P. Paranthaman, S. Kothe, E. Baral, S. Saleh, J. H. Mugumya, M. L. Rasche, R. B. Gupta, H. Lopez, M. Jiang, Slug-flow co-precipitation synthesis of uniformly-sized oxalate precursor microparticles for good reproducibility, tap density, and electrochemical performance of Li(Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1)O2 cathode materials, ACS. Appl. Energy Mater., 2023, 6, 3213−3224.Xiao-Guang Sun, Charl J Jafta, Susheng Tan, Albina Borisevich, Ram B Gupta, Mariappan Parans Paranthaman, "Facile surface coatings for performance improvement of NMC811 battery cathode materials, "J. Electrochem. Soc. 169 (2) 020565 (2022).