Lithium and manganese-rich precursor synthesis
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsAaron ROWE, Eunsung LEE, Chi PAIK
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Abstract
A method for producing a lithium manganese-rich electrode is presented. The method includes purging a reactor vessel and liquid reagents with nitrogen gas to establish a substantially oxygen-free atmosphere, followed by mixing a metal sulfate solution and a basic reagent solution to initiate a co-precipitation reaction that forms metal hydroxide and metal oxyhydroxide nuclei. Subsequently, a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen is introduced into the reactor vessel atmosphere to regulate the average primary particle size of the resulting metal oxyhydroxide particles. This controlled mixture is maintained to produce polycrystalline secondary metal oxyhydroxide particles.
Claims20
A method for producing a lithium manganese-rich electrode comprising:
- purging a reactor vessel and liquid reagents of oxygen by nitrogen gas sparging, establishing a substantially oxygen-free atmosphere;
- mixing a metal sulfate solution and a basic reagent solution into the substantially oxygen-free atmosphere to initiate a co-precipitation reaction to form metal hydroxide and metal oxyhydroxide nuclei;
- introducing oxygen and nitrogen into an atmosphere of the reactor vessel to control average primary particle size of resulting metal oxyhydroxide particles;
- and
- maintaining a mixture of the oxygen and nitrogen to produce polycrystalline secondary particles composed of metal oxyhydroxide particles.
A method for forming a lithium manganese rich nickel cobalt manganese layered oxide active material comprising:
- mixing metal sulfate solutions and basic solutions, in a purged oxygen-free reactor vessel, to initiate a co-precipitation reaction to form metal hydroxide and metal oxyhydroxide particles;
- regulating a supply of oxygen gas in combination with nitrogen gas to form metal hydroxide and metal oxyhydroxide particles;
- and
- adjusting oxygen gas supply to the metal hydroxide and metal oxyhydroxide particles to produce high-density secondary particles.
An apparatus for producing a lithium manganese rich nickel cobalt manganese cathode comprising:
- a reaction vessel with inlets and outlets configured to purge all solutions and vessel headspace with nitrogen gas to create substantially oxygen-free conditions prior to initiating a co-precipitation reaction;
- a gas mixing system configured to introduce a controlled mixture of oxygen gas and nitrogen gas at predetermined ratios into the reaction vessel;
- and
- a sparging element configured to disperse gas mixtures into a slurry within the reaction vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.