TY - JOUR
T1 - Unravelling the Impact of Reaction Paths on Mechanical Degradation of Intercalation Cathodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries
AU - Li, Juchuan
AU - Zhang, Qinglin
AU - Xiao, Xingcheng
AU - Cheng, Yang Tse
AU - Liang, Chengdu
AU - Dudney, Nancy J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2015/11/4
Y1 - 2015/11/4
N2 - The intercalation compounds are generally considered as ideal electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries thanks to their minimum volume expansion and fast lithium ion diffusion. However, cracking still occurs in those compounds and has been identified as one of the critical issues responsible for their capacity decay and short cycle life, although the diffusion-induced stress and volume expansion are much smaller than those in alloying-type electrodes. Here, we designed a thin-film model system that enables us to tailor the cation ordering in LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 spinels and correlate the stress patterns, phase evolution, and cycle performances. Surprisingly, we found that distinct reaction paths cause negligible difference in the overall stress patterns but significantly different cracking behaviors and cycling performances: 95% capacity retention for disordered LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 and 48% capacity retention for ordered LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 after 2000 cycles. We were able to pinpoint that the extended solid-solution region with suppressed phase transformation attributed to the superior electrochemical performance of disordered spinel. This work envisions a strategy for rationally designing stable cathodes for lithium-ion batteries through engineering the atomic structure that extends the solid-solution region and suppresses phase transformation.
AB - The intercalation compounds are generally considered as ideal electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries thanks to their minimum volume expansion and fast lithium ion diffusion. However, cracking still occurs in those compounds and has been identified as one of the critical issues responsible for their capacity decay and short cycle life, although the diffusion-induced stress and volume expansion are much smaller than those in alloying-type electrodes. Here, we designed a thin-film model system that enables us to tailor the cation ordering in LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 spinels and correlate the stress patterns, phase evolution, and cycle performances. Surprisingly, we found that distinct reaction paths cause negligible difference in the overall stress patterns but significantly different cracking behaviors and cycling performances: 95% capacity retention for disordered LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 and 48% capacity retention for ordered LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 after 2000 cycles. We were able to pinpoint that the extended solid-solution region with suppressed phase transformation attributed to the superior electrochemical performance of disordered spinel. This work envisions a strategy for rationally designing stable cathodes for lithium-ion batteries through engineering the atomic structure that extends the solid-solution region and suppresses phase transformation.
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U2 - 10.1021/jacs.5b06178
DO - 10.1021/jacs.5b06178
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84953400377
SN - 0002-7863
VL - 137
SP - 13732
EP - 13735
JO - Journal of the American Chemical Society
JF - Journal of the American Chemical Society
IS - 43
ER -