Addressing voltage decay in Li-rich cathodes by broadening the gap between metallic and anionic bands

Oxygen release and irreversible cation migration are the main causes of voltage fade in Li-rich transition metal oxide cathode. But their correlation is not very clear and voltage decay is still a bottleneck. Herein, we modulate the oxygen anionic redox chemistry by constructing Li2ZrO3 slabs into Li2MnO3 domain in Li1.21Ni0.28Mn0.51O2, which induces the lattice strain, tunes the chemical environment for redox-active oxygen and enlarges the gap between metallic and anionic bands. This modulation expands the region in which lattice oxygen contributes capacity by oxidation to oxygen holes and relieves the charge transfer from anionic band to antibonding metal-oxygen band under a deep delithiation. This restrains cation reduction, metal-oxygen bond fracture, and the formation of localized O-2 molecule, which fundamentally inhibits lattice oxygen escape and cation migration. The modulated cathode demonstrates a low voltage decay rate (0.45 millivolt per cycle) and a long cyclic stability. Voltage fade is a critical issue for Li-rich transition metal oxide cathode. Here, the authors modulate the oxygen anionic redox chemistry and enlarges the gap between metallic and anionic states by constructing Li2ZrO3 slabs into Li2MnO3 domain in Li1.21Ni0.28Mn0.51O2 which fundamentally suppresses the voltage decay.

Automated summary

The modulation of oxygen anionic redox chemistry and enlargement of the gap between metallic and anionic states by constructing Li2ZrO3 slabs into Li2MnO3 domain in Li1.21Ni0.28Mn0.51O2 fundamentally suppresses voltage decay, leading to a low voltage decay rate and long cyclic stability.