Modified sol-gel synthesis of lithium ternary oxide

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries currently equip portable electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops, and are the choice to power electric vehicles. The scarcity of raw materials in nature, however, has required the development of new technologies and the ternary lithium compound LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 has stood out as an alternative for replacing part of the cobalt in LiCoO2 by nickel and manganese, which are more abundant, reducing the electrode’s cost. The sol-gel route for synthesis of ternary electrode materials has been widely used, but it faces problems of volumetric expansion due to the decomposition of organic material during calcination. To improve the synthesis of the ternary compound, a modified sol-gel route with control of the heating kinetics in the pre-calcination step and without pH control was investigated in this study. The compound was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement, Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy, and Raman that showed the purification of the ternary phase with appropriate crystallinity for application as electrode in batteries from 700 ºC. In conclusion, ternary synthesis with rate control during heat treatment may be a useful alternative for industrial scale-up production.