skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Visualizing nanoscale 3D compositional fluctuation of lithium in advanced lithium-ion battery cathodes

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9014· OSTI ID:1212997
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [5]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. FEI Company, Hillsboro, OR (United States)
  3. Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Doha (Qatar)
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  5. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, Doha (Qatar)

The distribution and concentration of lithium in Li-ion battery cathodes at different stages of cycling is a pivotal factor in determining battery performance. Non-uniform distribution of the transition metal cations has been shown to affect cathode performance; however, the Li is notoriously challenging to characterize with typical high-spatial-resolution imaging techniques. Here, for the first time, laser–assisted atom probe tomography is applied to two advanced Li-ion battery oxide cathode materials—layered Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 and spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4—to unambiguously map the three dimensional (3D) distribution of Li at sub-nanometer spatial resolution and correlate it with the distribution of the transition metal cations (M) and the oxygen. The as-fabricated layered Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 is shown to have Li-rich Li2MO3 phase regions and Li-depleted Li(Ni0.5Mn0.5)O2 regions while in the cycled layered Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 an overall loss of Li and presence of Ni rich regions, Mn rich regions and Li rich regions are shown in addition to providing the first direct evidence for Li loss on cycling of layered LNMO cathodes. The spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode is shown to have a uniform distribution of all cations. These results were additionally validated by correlating with energy dispersive spectroscopy mapping of these nanoparticles in a scanning transmission electron microscope. Thus, we have opened the door for probing the nanoscale compositional fluctuations in crucial Li-ion battery cathode materials at an unprecedented spatial resolution of sub-nanometer scale in 3D which can provide critical information for understanding capacity decay mechanisms in these advanced cathode materials.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1212997
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1224906
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-111262; 48658
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 6, Issue 7; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 97 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (55)

Issues and challenges facing rechargeable lithium batteries journal November 2001
Next-generation lithium-ion batteries: The promise of near-term advancements journal May 2014
Challenges in the development of advanced Li-ion batteries: a review journal January 2011
Challenges for Rechargeable Li Batteries journal February 2010
Positive Electrode Materials for Li-Ion and Li-Batteries journal February 2010
Advances in manganese-oxide ‘composite’ electrodes for lithium-ion batteries
  • Thackeray, Michael M.; Johnson, Christopher S.; Vaughey, John T.
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 15, Issue 23, p. 2257-2267 https://doi.org/10.1039/b417616m
journal March 2005
Demonstrating Oxygen Loss and Associated Structural Reorganization in the Lithium Battery Cathode Li[Ni0.2Li0.2Mn0.6]O2 journal June 2006
Electrochemical and Structural Properties of xLi2M‘O3 ·(1− x )LiMn0.5Ni0.5O2 Electrodes for Lithium Batteries (M‘ = Ti, Mn, Zr; 0 ≤ x ⩽ 0.3) journal May 2004
Li2MnO3-stabilized LiMO2 (M = Mn, Ni, Co) electrodes for lithium-ion batteries journal January 2007
XEDS STEM tomography for 3D chemical characterization of nanoscale particles journal August 2013
Conflicting Roles of Nickel in Controlling Cathode Performance in Lithium Ion Batteries journal September 2012
Nanoscale Phase Separation, Cation Ordering, and Surface Chemistry in Pristine Li 1.2 Ni 0.2 Mn 0.6 O 2 for Li-Ion Batteries journal May 2013
Structural evolution of layered Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 upon electrochemical cycling in a Li rechargeable battery journal January 2010
Local structure and composition studies of Li1.2Ni0.2Mn0.6O2 by analytical electron microscopy journal March 2008
Evolution of Lattice Structure and Chemical Composition of the Surface Reconstruction Layer in Li 1.2 Ni 0.2 Mn 0.6 O 2 Cathode Material for Lithium Ion Batteries journal December 2014
Surface reconstruction and chemical evolution of stoichiometric layered cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries journal March 2014
First Evidence of Manganese–Nickel Segregation and Densification upon Cycling in Li-Rich Layered Oxides for Lithium Batteries journal July 2013
Identifying surface structural changes in layered Li-excess nickel manganese oxides in high voltage lithium ion batteries: A joint experimental and theoretical study journal January 2011
Formation of the Spinel Phase in the Layered Composite Cathode Used in Li-Ion Batteries journal December 2012
High-Performance LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 Spinel Controlled by Mn 3+ Concentration and Site Disorder journal March 2012
A New, Safe, High-Rate and High-Energy Polymer Lithium-Ion Battery journal August 2009
High-Power Nanostructured LiMn 2 - x Ni x O 4 High-Voltage Lithium-Ion Battery Electrode Materials:  Electrochemical Impact of Electronic Conductivity and Morphology journal July 2006
Revealing the coupled cation interactions behind the electrochemical profile of LixNi0.5Mn1.5O4 journal January 2012
Comparative Study of LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 - δ and LiNi 0.5 Mn 1.5 O 4 Cathodes Having Two Crystallographic Structures:  Fdm and P 4 3 32 journal March 2004
A comparative study of Fd-3m and P4332 “LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4” journal June 2011
High voltage nickel manganese spinel oxides for Li-ion batteries journal May 2008
Enhanced Li+ ion transport in LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 through control of site disorder journal January 2012
Atomic resolution of lithium ions in LiCoO2 journal June 2003
Role of Photoexcitation and Field Ionization in the Measurement of Accurate Oxide Stoichiometry by Laser-Assisted Atom Probe Tomography journal March 2013
The second revolution in atom probe tomography journal February 2012
Atom probe tomography journal March 2007
Atom Probe Tomography of Electronic Materials journal August 2007
Subsurface synthesis and characterization of Ag nanoparticles embedded in MgO journal February 2013
Understanding Atom Probe Tomography of Oxide-Supported Metal Nanoparticles by Correlation with Atomic-Resolution Electron Microscopy and Field Evaporation Simulation journal March 2014
Atom probe tomography of lithium-doped network glasses journal June 2014
Interfacial morphology development and solute trapping behavior during rapid solidification of an Al–Li–Cu alloy journal March 2013
Creep properties and precipitate evolution in Al–Li alloys microalloyed with Sc and Yb journal July 2012
Atom probe microscopy investigation of Mg site occupancy within δ′ precipitates in an Al–Mg–Li alloy journal June 2012
Experimental and modelling assessment of precipitation kinetics in an Al–Li–Mg alloy journal March 2012
Atom probe tomography and transmission electron microscopy characterisation of precipitation in an Al–Cu–Li–Mg–Ag alloy journal May 2011
Chemistry and structure of core/double-shell nanoscale precipitates in Al–6.5Li–0.07Sc–0.02Yb (at.%) journal May 2011
Effects of Li additions on precipitation-strengthened Al–Sc and Al–Sc–Yb alloys journal February 2011
Quantitative Analysis of Precipitate Compositions in an Al-Li-Mg-Cu Alloy Using Atom Probe Tomography journal June 2010
Composition profiles within Al3Li and Al3Sc∕Al3Li nanoscale precipitates in aluminum journal March 2008
Effects of laser energy and wavelength on the analysis of LiFePO4 using laser assisted atom probe tomography journal January 2015
Evidence for Anisotropic Mechanical Behavior and Nanoscale Chemical Heterogeneity in Cycled LiCoO 2 journal January 2014
Analysis of Three-dimensional Atom-probe Data by the Proximity Histogram journal September 2000
Quantitative binomial distribution analyses of nanoscale like‐solute atom clustering and segregation in atom probe tomography data journal July 2008
Contingency table techniques for three dimensional atom probe tomography journal January 2007
Nanoscale phase separation in epitaxial Cr-Mo and Cr-V alloy thin films studied using atom probe tomography: Comparison of experiments and simulation journal November 2014
Probing the Degradation Mechanism of Li 2 MnO 3 Cathode for Li-Ion Batteries journal January 2015
Mitigating Voltage Fade in Cathode Materials by Improving the Atomic Level Uniformity of Elemental Distribution journal April 2014
Growth mechanism of Ni0.3Mn0.7CO3 precursor for high capacity Li-ion battery cathodes journal January 2011
Composition Profiles within Al3Li and Al3Sc/Al3Li Nanoscale Precipitates in Aluminum text January 2008
Atomic-Scale Visualization of Antisite Defects in LiFePO 4 journal March 2008

Cited By (21)

Atomic-Scale Structural and Chemical Study of Columnar and Multilayer Re-Ni Electrodeposited Thermal Barrier Coating : Atomic-Scale Structural and Chemical Study of Re-Ni… journal March 2016
Persistent State-of-Charge Heterogeneity in Relaxed, Partially Charged Li 1− x Ni 1/3 Co 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 Secondary Particles journal May 2016
A Novel Ultrafast Rechargeable Multi-Ions Battery journal February 2017
Biomineralization at Titanium Revealed by Correlative 4D Tomographic and Spectroscopic Methods journal May 2018
Insight of a Phase Compatible Surface Coating for Long‐Durable Li‐Rich Layered Oxide Cathode journal July 2019
Nanoskalige chemische Bildgebung von Zeolithen durch Atomsondentomographie journal June 2018
Atomistic Conversion Reaction Mechanism of WO 3 in Secondary Ion Batteries of Li, Na, and Ca journal April 2016
Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of Zeolites Using Atom Probe Tomography journal July 2018
One-Dimensional Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 /C Nanowires as Cathode Materials for Long-Life and High Rate Na-Ion Batteries journal May 2016
Highly [010]-oriented, gradient Co-doped LiMnPO4 with enhanced cycling stability as cathode for Li-ion batteries journal January 2020
Composition-Dependent Microstructure-Property Relationships of Fe and Al Modified Ti-12Cr (wt.%) journal April 2019
Li-Rich Layered Oxides and Their Practical Challenges: Recent Progress and Perspectives journal March 2019
Structural insights into the formation and voltage degradation of lithium- and manganese-rich layered oxides journal November 2019
Injection of oxygen vacancies in the bulk lattice of layered cathodes journal April 2019
Elemental preference and atomic scale site recognition in a Co-Al-W-base superalloy journal December 2017
Effect of composition on the structure of lithium- and manganese-rich transition metal oxides journal January 2018
Phase transformation in MOCVD growth of (Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 thin films journal March 2020
Three-dimensional nanoscale characterisation of materials by atom probe tomography journal November 2016
Structural insights into the formation and voltage degradation of lithium- and manganese-rich layered oxides. text January 2019
Structural insights into the formation and voltage degradation of lithium- and manganese-rich layered oxides text January 2019
Structural insights into the formation and voltage degradation of lithium- and manganese-rich layered oxides text January 2019