LiNi0.3Mn0.3Co0.3O2 (NMC 111) cathode material synthesize via combustion Method: Effect of combustion fuel on Structure, morphology and their electrochemical performances

Abstract

Using different fuels during the synthesis process will affect the cathode materials' phase, morphology, crystallinity, and electrochemical performance. In this work, the synthesis of LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC111) was done using the combustion method. Different fuels which are citric acid, urea, and glycine were used to study the effect on the phase, morphology, and performance of the materials. The final products of NMC 111 synthesized using citric acid, glycine and urea were denoted as LC, LG, and LU, respectively anneal at 800 ˚C for 24 h. Based on the XRD results, all materials showed a pure, single phase and isostructural with hexagonal α-NaFeO2. LC material shows good cation ordering with a higher Reference Intensity Ratio (RIR) value of 1.25. Meanwhile, FESEM results revealed that all materials have a morphology of polyhedral-like shape and well-crystallized particles with smooth surfaces. LC material displays a smaller crystallite size compared to the LG and LU materials. From the XRD and FESEM results, LC material has the potential as cathode material that has good cation ordering and a smaller crystallite size that provided a larger surface area which can promote more Li+ ions diffusion resulting in an excellent electrochemical behavior. This proves when LC show the highest initial discharge capacity of 130.80 mAhg−1 compared with LG and LU materials and can retain their discharge capacity up to 117.51 mAhg−1 after the 30th cycle. The findings from this work prove that higher enthalpy combustion (ΔcH°solid) of citric acid can govern a good crystal structure growth of the NMC111 material that has a good cation ordering with low cation mixing, higher crystallinity, and smaller crystallite size and subsequently leads to a good electrochemical performance.