Formation of solid-solution CoxNi1-xCO3 as high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Transition metal carbonates (TMCs) as high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted intensive research interests in recent years. Nanostructures with abundant pore channels can well address the volume change during the Li+ insertion/desertion process and shorten the ionic diffusion length. Multi-component carbonates with excellent porous structures exhibit enhanced electrochemical performance in contrast to the mono-component carbonates due to the synergistic effect among multi-metal elements. Herein, we used a simple solvothermal method to synthesize Co-based solid-solution carbonates CoxNi1-xCO3 to obtain different microstructures by changing the content of the precipitant. The optimized solid-solution Co2/3Ni1/3CO3 (CNCO-20) delivers a high initial Coulombic efficiency of 83%, a reversible high-rate capacity of 828.1 mAh g(-1) at 2.0 A g(-1), and good electrochemical stability with a reversible capacity of 740.9 mAh g(-1) after 500 charge-discharge cycles at 1.0 A g(-1) due to the enhanced electronic/ionic transport, sufficient electroactive sites, and improved electrochemical stabilities. Considering the excellent specific capacity and long life-span, the synthesized solid-solution CNCO-20 demonstrate great promise as an alternative anode electrode material compared to conventional materials for LIBs.

Automated summary

Transition metal carbonates have been widely studied as high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. By synthesizing solid-solution carbonates with optimized structures, nanostructures with abundant pore channels can be obtained, resulting in high capacity, high-rate performance, and good cycle stability. These materials show great promise for application in lithium-ion batteries.