Understanding and Control of Activation Process of Lithium-Rich Cathode Materials

Tongen Lin; Trent Seaby; Yuxiang Hu; Shanshan Ding; Ying Liu; Bin Luo; Lianzhou Wang

doi:10.1007/s41918-022-00172-4

Electrochemical Energy Reviews ›› 2022, Vol. 5 ›› Issue (Suppl 2) DOI: 10.1007/s41918-022-00172-4

Review Article

Understanding and Control of Activation Process of Lithium-Rich Cathode Materials

Author information +

¹Nanomaterials Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, 4072, St Lucia, QLD, Australia

²Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, Faculty of Materials and Manufacturing, Beijing University of Technology, 100124, Beijing, China

^c y.hu@bjut.edu.cn

^g l.wang@uq.edu.au

Tongen Lin

is a Ph.D. student at the School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Technology from Sichuan University in 2013. Then, he obtained his Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Queensland in 2016. Tongen is currently studying under the supervision of Prof. Lianzhou Wang. Tongen’s current research focuses on lithium-rich cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

Trent Seaby

studied Chemical Engineering and Physics at the University of Queensland and received a Bachelor’s degree in 2019. He is now undertaking a Ph.D. study in Chemical Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Lianzhou Wang and Dr. Yuxiang Hu. His research is focused on understanding and improving the current generation of Li-ion batteries, with a particular focus on Li-rich materials.

Yuxiang Hu

is Professor in the Faculty of Materials and Manufacturing, Beijing University of Technology. Previously, he worked as a subgroup leader and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering, University of Queensland (UQ). He obtained Ph.D. degree at UQ under the supervision of Prof. Lianzhou Wang. In 2012, he received BSc degree in the School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering from Nanjing University, and then obtained the Master’s degree under the supervision of Prof. Jun Chen in the Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry, Nankai University. His research focuses on metal-ion/oxygen batteries, nanomaterials and catalysis. Right now, he had more than 40 peer-review papers, 3 patents and over 10 invited international presentations. The total citations of Dr. Yuxiang Hu are more than 3 400 with an H-index of 26.

Shanshan Ding

is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland. She received her Master’s degree in Environmental Chemistry from Nanjing University in 2018. Currently, she is pursuing her Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Prof. Lianzhou Wang and Dr. Yang Bai. Her current research interest mainly focuses on regulating the surface chemistry to enhance the performance of perovskite quantum dot solar cells.

Ying Liu

studied chemical engineering at the University of Queensland and received her Master’s degree. In the last Master’s semester, she joined the research group of Dr. Yuxiang Hu and Prof. Lianzhou Wang to conduct research on Li-ion batteries. Her research mainly focuses on lithium-rich materials, especially applying chemical treatment on lithium-rich materials.

Bin Luo

is an ARC Future Fellow in Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, the University of Queensland. He received his doctoral degree in Physical Chemistry from the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013. His research focuses on the design of new functional nanomaterials for energy conversion and storage applications.

Lianzhou Wang

is Professor and Australian Research Council Australian Laureate Fellow in the School of Chemical Engineering and Senior Group leader of Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland. His research focuses on synthesis and application of functional nanomaterials for use in renewable energy conversion/storage systems including photocatalysts, rechargeable batteries and low-cost solar cells.

Show less

History +

PDF

Abstract

Lithium-rich materials (LRMs) are among the most promising cathode materials toward next-generation Li-ion batteries due to their extraordinary specific capacity of over 250 mAh g⁻¹ and high energy density of over 1 000 Wh kg⁻¹. The superior capacity of LRMs originates from the activation process of the key active component Li₂MnO₃. This process can trigger reversible oxygen redox, providing extra charge for more Li-ion extraction. However, such an activation process is kinetically slow with complex phase transformations. To address these issues, tremendous effort has been made to explore the mechanism and origin of activation, yet there are still many controversies. Despite considerable strategies that have been proposed to improve the performance of LRMs, in-depth understanding of the relationship between the LRMs’ preparation and their activation process is limited. To inspire further research on LRMs, this article firstly systematically reviews the progress in mechanism studies and performance improving attempts. Then, guidelines for activation controlling strategies, including composition adjustment, elemental substitution and chemical treatment, are provided for the future design of Li-rich cathode materials. Based on these investigations, recommendations on Li-rich materials with precisely controlled Mn/Ni/Co composition, multi-elemental substitution and oxygen vacancy engineering are proposed for designing high-performance Li-rich cathode materials with fast and stable activation processes.

Graphical abstract

The “Troika” of composition adjustment, elemental substitution, and chemical treatment can drive the Li-rich cathode towards stabilized and accelerated activation.

Cite this article

Download citation ▾

Tongen Lin, Trent Seaby, Yuxiang Hu, Shanshan Ding, Ying Liu, Bin Luo, Lianzhou Wang. Understanding and Control of Activation Process of Lithium-Rich Cathode Materials. Electrochemical Energy Reviews, 2022, 5(Suppl 2): DOI:10.1007/s41918-022-00172-4