Thermally driven mesoscale chemomechanical interplay in Li0.5Ni0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 cathode materials

Wei, Chenxi; Zhang, Yan; Lee, Sang -Jun; Mu, Linqin; Liu, Jin; Wang, Chenxu; Yang, Yang; Doeff, Marca; Pianetta, Piero; Nordlund, Dennis; Du, Xi -Wen; Tian, Yangchao; Zhao, Kejie; Lee, Jun -Sik; Lin, Feng; Liu, Yijin

doi:10.1039/c8ta08973f

Thermally driven mesoscale chemomechanical interplay in Li_0.5Ni_0.6Mn_0.2Co_0.2O₂ cathode materials

Journal Article · Wed Oct 17 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Materials Chemistry. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ta08973f· OSTI ID:1490862

Wei, Chenxi ^[1]; Zhang, Yan ^[2]; Lee, Sang -Jun ^[3]; Mu, Linqin ^[4]; Liu, Jin ^[5]; Wang, Chenxu ^[5]; Yang, Yang ^[6]; Doeff, Marca ^[7]; Pianetta, Piero ^[3]; Nordlund, Dennis ^[3]; ^[8]; Tian, Yangchao ^[9]; Zhao, Kejie ^[10]; Lee, Jun -Sik ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[3]

Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Tianjin Univ., Tianjin (China); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble (France)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Tianjin Univ., Tianjin (China)
Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, LA (United States)

While Li ion batteries are intended to be operated within a mild temperature window, their structural and chemical complexity could lead to unanticipated local electrochemical events that could cause extreme temperature spikes, which, in turn, could trigger more undesired and sophisticated reactions in the system. Visualizing and understanding the response of battery electrode materials to thermal abuse conditions could potentially offer a knowledge basis for the prevention and mitigation of the safety hazards. Here we show a comprehensive investigation of thermally driven chemomechanical interplay in a Li_0.5Ni_0.6Mn_0.2Co_0.2O₂ (charged NMC622) cathode material. We report that, at the early stage of the thermal abuse, oxygen release and internal Li migration occur concurrently, and are accompanied by mechanical disintegration at the mesoscale. At the later stage, Li protrusions are observed on the secondary particle surface due to the limited lithium solubility in non-layered lattices. As a result, the extraction of both oxygen and lithium from the host material at elevated temperature could influence the chemistry and safety at the cell level via rearrangement of the electron and ion diffusion pathways, reduction of the coulombic efficiency, and/or causing an internal short circuit that could provoke a thermal runaway.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1490862

Journal Information:: Journal of Materials Chemistry. A, Journal Name: Journal of Materials Chemistry. A Journal Issue: 45 Vol. 6; ISSN JMCAET; ISSN 2050-7488

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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