DEVELOPMENT OF NICKEL RICH AND CONCENTRATION GRADIENT CATHODE MATERIALS FOR HIGH ENERGY DENSITY AND LONG CYCLE-LIFE LITHIUM ION BATTERIES USING CONTROLLED MICRO-AEROSOL PYROLYSIS
Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) and the electrification of transportation is a central solution to utilize intermittent renewable electricity and reduce carbon emissions from using fossil fuels. However, the cathode materials remain a major limiting factor in terms of cost, energy capacity, cycling stability, and fire safety of LiBs. Future batteries need to use high-Ni nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) or nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) cathodes to increase energy density and reduce the content of expensive cobalt. Despite this promise, however, high-Ni, low-Co cathode materials suffer from a number of serious problems leading to poor cycling performance and compromised thermal stability. Moreover, the multi-step co-precipitation method currently used to produce commercial cathode materials is energy and chemically intensive, increasing the cost and environmental impact of producing LiBs for the rapidly-expanding electric vehicle (EV) market. The objective of this SBIR Phase I project is to address these issues by developing a low-cost and environmentally-friendly route to produce advanced high-Ni cathode materials for high-performance and safe Li-ion batteries. A novel single-step Micro-Aerosol Controlled High Temperature (MACHT) synthesis technology has been successfully demonstrated for precise and selective gradient ion-doping in high-nickel or cobalt-free cathode materials for LiBs. The process avoids waste water treatment and additional chemicals which are needed for conventional co-precipitation cathode production processes. The cathode materials show improved cycling performance, and higher critical oxygen release temperature and lower fire propensity. Specifically, the Phase I studies have revealed experimentally that the MACHT synthesis technology can: (1) provide flexibility of particle morphology control of cathode materials; (2) enable precise ion doping in crystal structures; (3) form concentration gradient of selective doping ions and improve cycling stability in both nickel-rich NCM 811 and NCA811 cathode materials; (4) has the flexibility to synthesize LiB cathode materials using either acetate, sulfate, or nitrate precursors; (5) increase the critical temperature of oxygen release from the cathode materials and thus reduce the spontaneous auto-ignition propensity of LiBs, and (6) has the potential to be scaled up for commercial LiB cathode material production. The electrochemical performance of a suite of potential high nickel NCM and NCA product materials has been proven in half and full coin cells and demonstrated to offer improvements in terms of capacity retention and fire safety beyond that of commercially-available high-Ni materials. The research has led to results in two papers published in peer reviewed journals; critical experimental data for a patent application; and collaborations with LiB and electrical vehicle industries. With the progress of Phase I research, HiT Nano Inc and other research teams are well-positioned to move forward and focus on production scale-up, pouch cell demonstration, technology to EV market transfer, and continued innovation at the material level to enhance electrochemical performance.
- Research Organization:
- HiT Nano
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0019893
- OSTI ID:
- 1765346
- Type / Phase:
- SBIR (Phase I)
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-HITNANO-DE-SC0019893
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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