Review of Modified Nickel-Cobalt Lithium Aluminate Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Ternary nickel-cobalt lithium aluminate LiNi x Co y Al 1-x-y O 2 (NCA, x ≥ 0:8) is an essential cathode material with many vital advantages, such as lower cost and higher specific capacity compared with lithium cobaltate and lithium iron phosphate materials. However, the noticeably irreversible capacity and reduced cycle performance of NCA cathode materials have restricted their further development. To solve these problems and further improve the electrochemical performance, numerous research studies on material modification have been conducted, achieving promising results in recent years. In this work, the progress of NCA cathode materials is examined from the aspects of surface coating and bulk doping. Furthermore, future research directions for NCA cathode materials are proposed.

Thermodynamic Modeling of Ni-C, Co-C, and Ni-Co-C Liquid Alloys Using the Modified Quasichemical Model

“…They have been utilized for lithium-ion batteries and nickel metal-hydride batteries as well as aerospace structural materials, so-called superalloys. [1][2][3][4][5] For lithium-ion batteries, they contribute to promoting the stable structure and high capacity of cathode materials. [1] The Ni-Co rechargeable battery has been suggested as a potential power source of nickel metal-hydride batteries because of the high energy capacity and long durability.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] For lithium-ion batteries, they contribute to promoting the stable structure and high capacity of cathode materials. [1] The Ni-Co rechargeable battery has been suggested as a potential power source of nickel metal-hydride batteries because of the high energy capacity and long durability. [2] The addition of Co has enhanced the creep rupture lives of Ni-based superalloys.…”

Carbon-Coatings Improve Performance of Li-Ion Battery

“…Firstly, due to the similar radius between Li + and Ni + , it is easy for Ni + to migrate to Li + layer and occupy Li + , which makes the thermal instability of the structure of NCA. Moreover, due to the instability of Ni 3+ and Ni 4+ at high temperature, the reaction between HF released by the electrolyte and these high oxidation state Ni-ions easily occurs, leading to the structural change and material degradation which affect the capacity and cycle performance of NCA material [ 97 ]. Besides, cations mixing makes an impact on the layered-spinel-rock salt phase transition, contributing to the loss of oxygen from the cathodes and the formation of a thick and highly resistive layer improves the transfer impedance.…”

The role of metal substitutions in the development of Li batteries, part I: cathodes

“…Like other Ni-based cathode materials, Ni 4+ is highly unstable at high temperature, reacting with HF in electrolyte and causing material degradation, namely at the surface. 184 Ultimately, NCA suffers from worse cyclability compared to non-nickel-rich NMC cathodes. Like NMC, coatings and substitutions have been studied to improve the structural stability and electrochemical performance, these will be discussed in the next section.…”