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Patil S, Koirala KP, Crafton MJ, Yang G, Tsai WY, McCloskey BD, Wang C, Nanda J, Self EC. Enhanced Electrochemical Performance of Disordered Rocksalt Cathodes Enabled by a Graphite Conductive Additive. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2023; 15:39253-39264. [PMID: 37565767 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c05619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/12/2023]
Abstract
Cobalt-free cation-disordered rocksalt (DRX) cathodes are a promising class of materials for next-generation Li-ion batteries. Although they have high theoretical specific capacities (>300 mA h/g) and moderate operating voltages (∼3.5 V vs Li/Li+), DRX cathodes typically require a high carbon content (up to 30 wt %) to fully utilize the active material which has a detrimental impact on cell-level energy density. To assess pathways to reduce the electrode's carbon content, the present study investigates how the carbon's microstructure and loading (10-20 wt %) influence the performance of DRX cathodes with the nominal composition Li1.2Mn0.5Ti0.3O1.9F0.1. While electrodes prepared with conventional disordered carbon additives (C65 and ketjenblack) exhibit rapid capacity fade due to an unstable cathode/electrolyte interface, DRX cathodes containing 10 wt % graphite show superior cycling performance (e.g., reversible capacities ∼260 mA h/g with 85% capacity retention after 50 cycles) and rate capability (∼135 mA h/g at 1000 mA/g). A suite of characterization tools was employed to evaluate the performance differences among these composite electrodes. Overall, these results indicate that the superior performance of the graphite-based cathodes is largely attributed to the: (i) formation of a uniform graphitic coating on DRX particles which protects the surface from parasitic reactions at high states of charge and (ii) homogeneous dispersion of the active material and carbon throughout the composite cathode which provides a robust electronically conductive network that can withstand repeated charge-discharge cycles. Overall, this study provides key scientific insights on how the carbon microstructure and electrode processing influence the performance of DRX cathodes. Based on these results, exploration of alternative routes to apply graphitic coatings is recommended to further optimize the material performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shripad Patil
- Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Education, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, United States
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States
| | - Krishna Prasad Koirala
- Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Matthew J Crafton
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Guang Yang
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States
| | - Wan-Yu Tsai
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States
| | - Bryan D McCloskey
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Chongmin Wang
- Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Jagjit Nanda
- Applied Energy Division, SLAC National Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States
| | - Ethan C Self
- Chemical Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, United States
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Guo F, Huang X, Li Y, Zhang S, He X, Liu J, Yu Z, Li F, Liu B. In Situ Low-Temperature Carbonization Capping of LiFePO 4 with Coke for Enhanced Lithium Battery Performance. Molecules 2023; 28:6083. [PMID: 37630335 PMCID: PMC10457987 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28166083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Lithium batteries incorporating LiFePO4 (LFP) as the cathode material have gained significant attention in recent research. However, the limited electronic and ionic conductivity of LFP poses challenges to its cycling performance and overall efficiency. In this study, we address these issues by synthesizing a series of LiFePO4/carbon (LFP/C) composites through low-temperature carbonization coating of LFP in the presence of Coke as the carbon source. The resulting lithium batteries utilizing LFP/C as the cathode material exhibited impressive discharge specific capacities of 148.35 mA·h/g and 126.74 mA·h/g at 0.1 C and 1 C rates, respectively. Even after 200 cycles of charging and discharging, the capacities remained remarkably high, with values of 93.74% and 97.05% retention, showcasing excellent cycling stability. Notably, the LFP/C composite displayed exceptional rate capability, and capacity retention of 99.27% after cycling at different multiplication rates. These findings underscore the efficacy of in situ low-temperature carbonization capping of LFP with Coke in significantly improving both the cycling stability and rate capability of lithium batteries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fei Guo
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
| | - Xiaoqi Huang
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
| | - Yudong Li
- Key Laboratory of Bio-Based Material Science & Technology of Ministry of Education, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
| | - Shaohui Zhang
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
| | - Xiong He
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
| | - Jinghua Liu
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
| | - Zhiqiang Yu
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
| | - Feng Li
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
| | - Baosheng Liu
- School of Electronic Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China (B.L.)
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Giesler J, Weirauch L, Rother A, Thöming J, Pesch GR, Baune M. Sorting Lithium-Ion Battery Electrode Materials Using Dielectrophoresis. ACS OMEGA 2023; 8:26635-26643. [PMID: 37521612 PMCID: PMC10373188 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c04057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023]
Abstract
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are common in everyday life and the demand for their raw materials is increasing. Additionally, spent LIBs should be recycled to achieve a circular economy and supply resources for new LIBs or other products. Especially the recycling of the active material of the electrodes is the focus of current research. Existing approaches for recycling (e.g., pyro-, hydrometallurgy, or flotation) still have their drawbacks, such as the loss of materials, generation of waste, or lack of selectivity. In this study, we test the behavior of commercially available LiFePO4 and two types of graphite microparticles in a dielectrophoretic high-throughput filter. Dielectrophoresis is a volume-dependent electrokinetic force that is commonly used in microfluidics but recently also for applications that focus on enhanced throughput. In our study, graphite particles show significantly higher trapping than LiFePO4 particles. The results indicate that nearly pure fractions of LiFePO4 can be obtained with this technique from a mixture with graphite.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasper Giesler
- Chemical
Process Engineering, Faculty of Production Engineering, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
| | - Laura Weirauch
- Chemical
Process Engineering, Faculty of Production Engineering, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
| | - Alica Rother
- Center
for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology (UFT), University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
| | - Jorg Thöming
- Chemical
Process Engineering, Faculty of Production Engineering, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
- Center
for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology (UFT), University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
| | - Georg R. Pesch
- School
of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Michael Baune
- Chemical
Process Engineering, Faculty of Production Engineering, University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
- Center
for Environmental Research and Sustainable Technology (UFT), University of Bremen, Bremen 28359, Germany
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