Cathode materials for secondary batteries
AssigneeUchicago Argonne, LLC
InventorsTongchao Liu, Khalil Amine
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cathode active material includes a composition expressed as: Li1+β(NixMnyCoz)M1α(Nix′Mny′Coz′)M21−αO2; or Na1+β(NixMnyCoz)M1α(Nix′Mny′Coz′)M21−αO2; where: M1 represents a core composition comprising of Ni, Mn, and/or Co or a combination of at two of thereof; M2 represents a surface composition having at least 50% Co, and, optionally Ni and/or Mn; the structure of M2 may be a composite structure and includes a rock-salt or disordered rock-salt phase; 0.5≤α<1, 0≤x≤1, 0≤y≤0.5, 0≤z≤1, 0≤x′≤0.5, 0≤y′≤0.5, 0.5≤z′≤1, and −0.1≤β≤0.1; the sum of x, y and z is 0.9-1.1, and the sum of x′, y′ and z′ is 0.9-1.1.
Claims19
A cathode active material comprising:
- a composition expressed as:
- Li1+β(NixMnyCoz)M1α(Nix′Mny′Coz′)M21−αO2;
- or
- Na1+β(NixMnyCoz)M1α(Nix′Mny′Coz′)M21−αO2;
- wherein:
- M1 represents a core composition comprising of Ni, Mn, and/or Co or a combination of at two of thereof;
- M2 represents a surface composition comprising at least 50% Co, and, optionally Ni and/or Mn;
- the structure of M2 may be a composite structure and comprises a rock-salt or disordered rock-salt phase;
- 0.5≤α<1, 0≤x≤1, 0≤y≤0.5, 0≤z≤1, 0≤x′≤0.5, 0≤y′≤0.5, 0.5≤z′≤1, and −0.1≤β≤0.1;
- the sum of x, y and z is 0.9-1.1, and the sum of x′, y′ and z′ is 0.9-1.1.
The cathode active material of claim 1, 0.9≤α<1, 0≤x≤0.2, 0≤y≤0.2, 0.8≤z≤1, 0≤x′≤0.5, 0≤y′≤0.5, and 0.5≤z′≤1.
A cathode active material expressed as δLi2M1′O3.(1-δ)LiM2′O2, wherein M1′ comprises one or more of Mn, Ni, and Co;
- M2′ comprises at least 50% Co mol % and a rock-salt or disordered rock-salt phase, and, optionally, Ni and/or Mn, and 0<δ<1.
A process of preparing a cathode active material, the process comprising:
- providing a first aqueous metal ion solution;
- providing a second aqueous metal ion solution;
- combining M1 and M2 and with a precipitating agent to form a precipitate;
- isolating the precipitate;
- mixing the precipitate with a lithium or sodium salt to form a mixture;
- and
- heating-treating the mixture to form the cathode active material that is expressed as:
- Li1+β(NixMnyCoz)M1α(Nix′Mny′Coz′)M21−αO2;
- or
- Na1+β(NixMnyCoz)M1α(Nix′Mny′Coz′)M21−αO2;
- wherein:
- M1 represents a core composition comprising of Ni, Mn, and/or Co or a combination of at two of thereof;
- M2 represents a surface composition comprising at least 50% Co, and, optionally Ni and/or Mn;
- the structure of M2 may be a composite structure and comprises a rock-salt or disordered rock-salt phase;
- 0.5≤α<1, 0≤x≤1, 0≤y≤0.5, 0≤z≤1, 0≤x′≤0.5, 0≤y′≤0.5, 0.5≤z′≤1, and −0.1≤β≤0.1, the sum of x, y and z is 0.9-1.1, and the sum of x′, y′ and z′ is 0.9-1.1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.