Can Cobalt Be Eliminated from Lithium-Ion Batteries?
Abstract
Following the discovery of LiCoO2 (LCO) as a cathode in the 1980s, layered oxides have enabled lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) to power portable electronic devices that sparked the digital revolution of the 21st century. Since then, LiNixMnyCozO2 (NMC) and LiNixCoyAlzO2 (NCA) have emerged as the leading cathodes for LIBs in electric vehicle (EV) application and have become crucial components in the fight against global warming. However, the surging demand for LIBs has led to an extremely tight supply. The EV sector has already dominated the LIB market, even though EV sales were only 2–3% of total passenger vehicle sales in 2020. EV sales are expected to grow 10-fold by the end of this decade, and close to 90% of the total LIB demand will come from the EV sector. As a result, LIB manufacturers must aggressively ramp up cell production to keep pace with the immense growth of the EV market, a quest that brings scrutiny to the cost and sustainability of current LIB manufacturing practices. Here, cathodes are a critical component that largely determines the energy density and 40–50% of the total cell cost in LIBs. Rigorous consideration of the cathode performance and material cost is crucial in sustaining EVmore »
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Texas at Austin, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO); Welch Foundation
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1972449
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0008445; F-1254
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- ACS Energy Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 7; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 2380-8195
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 25 ENERGY STORAGE; Batteries; Cobalt; Electrodes; Oxides; Transition metals
Citation Formats
Lee, Steven, and Manthiram, Arumugam. Can Cobalt Be Eliminated from Lithium-Ion Batteries?. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.2c01553.
Lee, Steven, & Manthiram, Arumugam. Can Cobalt Be Eliminated from Lithium-Ion Batteries?. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c01553
Lee, Steven, and Manthiram, Arumugam. Mon .
"Can Cobalt Be Eliminated from Lithium-Ion Batteries?". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.2c01553. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1972449.
@article{osti_1972449,
title = {Can Cobalt Be Eliminated from Lithium-Ion Batteries?},
author = {Lee, Steven and Manthiram, Arumugam},
abstractNote = {Following the discovery of LiCoO2 (LCO) as a cathode in the 1980s, layered oxides have enabled lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) to power portable electronic devices that sparked the digital revolution of the 21st century. Since then, LiNixMnyCozO2 (NMC) and LiNixCoyAlzO2 (NCA) have emerged as the leading cathodes for LIBs in electric vehicle (EV) application and have become crucial components in the fight against global warming. However, the surging demand for LIBs has led to an extremely tight supply. The EV sector has already dominated the LIB market, even though EV sales were only 2–3% of total passenger vehicle sales in 2020. EV sales are expected to grow 10-fold by the end of this decade, and close to 90% of the total LIB demand will come from the EV sector. As a result, LIB manufacturers must aggressively ramp up cell production to keep pace with the immense growth of the EV market, a quest that brings scrutiny to the cost and sustainability of current LIB manufacturing practices. Here, cathodes are a critical component that largely determines the energy density and 40–50% of the total cell cost in LIBs. Rigorous consideration of the cathode performance and material cost is crucial in sustaining EV adoption. In this Viewpoint, we discuss why using cobalt in cathodes is unsustainable in the long run and highlight the features of cobalt-free cathodes.},
doi = {10.1021/acsenergylett.2c01553},
journal = {ACS Energy Letters},
number = 9,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}
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