Versatile Ternary Manganese-Nickel-Cobalt Compounds in Multi-Shell Spherical Structures as Electrode Materials for High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

A full lithium-ion battery has been assembled based on nanoarchitectured ternary manganese-nickel-cobalt compounds, in which multi-shell spherical Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13(CO3)0.8 serves as anode and the subsequently lithiated Li-excess Li[Li0.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13]O2 with a yolk-shell structure acts as cathode. Multi-shell carbonate anode tested in a half cell with metallic lithium as the counter electrode reveals an unexpectedly high initial charge capacity of 1173.1 mAh/g at 25 mA/g. Accordingly, yolk-shell-structured Li-excess layered cathode material has been obtained through lithiation of carbonate compound, showing an initial discharge capacity of 250.7 mAh/g when cycled at 0.1 C (1C = 250 mA/g) in a half cell. Combination of nanostructured ternary transition metal carbonate anode and Li-excess layered cathode into a full lithium-ion battery results in a remarkable specific capacity above 250 mAh/g at 0.1 C in a voltage range of 0.1 - 4.0 V, which demonstrates as a very promising electrochemical device for future energy conversion and storage.