First-principle study on the geometric and electronic structure of Mg-doped LiNiO2 for Li-ion batteries

CONTEXT

Ni-rich layered oxides have been widely studied as cathodes because of their high energy density. However, the gradual structural transformation during the cycle will lead to the capacity degradation and potential decay of the cathode materials. In this paper, first-principle calculations were used to investigate the formation energy, and geometric and electronic structure of Mg-doped LiNiO2 cathode for Li-ion batteries. The results show that Mg doping has little effect on the geometric structure of LiNiO2 but has great effect on its electronic structure. Our data give an insight into the microscopic mechanism of Mg-doped LiNiO2 and provide a theoretical reference for experimental research, which is helpful to the design of safer and higher energy density Ni-rich cathodes.

METHOD

In this work, all calculations were performed by the VASP package; the PBE functional in the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) was employed to describe the exchange-correlation interactions. An energy cutoff of 520 eV and a 5 × 5 × 3 Monkhorst-Pack mesh of k-point sampling in the Brillouin zone were chosen for all calculations. All atoms were relaxed until the convergences of 10-5 eV/f.u in energy and 0.01 eV/Å in force were reached.

Electrolysis Process-Facilitated Engineering of Primary Particles of Cobalt-Free LiNiO2 for Improved Electrochemical Performance

The particle morphology of LiNiO2 (LNO), the final product of Co-free high-Ni layered oxide cathode materials, must be engineered to prevent the degradation of electrochemical performance caused by the H2-H3 phase transition. Introducing a small amount of dopant oxides (Nb2O5 as an example) during the electrolysis synthesis of the Ni(OH)2 precursor facilitates the engineering of the primary particles of LNO, which is quick, simple, and inexpensive. In addition to the low concentration of Nb that entered the lattice structure, a combination of advanced characterizations indicates that the obtained LNO cathode material contains a high concentration of Nb in the primary particle boundaries in the form of lithium niobium oxide. This electrolysis method facilitated LNO (EMF-LNO) engineering successfully, reducing primary particle size and increasing particle packing density. Therefore, the EMF-LNO cathode material with engineered morphology exhibited increased mechanical strength and electrical contact, blocked electrolyte penetration during cycling, and reduced the H2-H3 phase transition effects.

Activating Lattice Oxygen in Layered Lithium Oxides through Cation Vacancies for Enhanced Urea Electrolysis

Despite the fact that high-valent nickel-based oxides exhibit promising catalytic activity for the urea oxidation reaction (UOR), the fundamental questions concerning the origin of the high performance and the structure-activity correlations remain to be elucidated. Here, we unveil the underlying enhanced mechanism of UOR by employing a series of prepared cation-vacancy controllable LiNiO₂ (LNO) model catalysts. Impressively, the optimized layered LNO-2 exhibits an extremely low overpotential at 10 mA cm^-2 along with excellent stability after the 160 h test. Operando characterisations combined with the theoretical analysis reveal the activated lattice oxygen in layered LiNiO₂ with moderate cation vacancies triggers charge disproportion of the Ni site to form Ni⁴⁺ species, facilitating deprotonation in a lattice oxygen involved catalytic process.

Electrolyzed Ni(OH)2 Precursor Sintered with LiOH/LiNiO3 Mixed Salt for Structurally and Electrochemically Stable Cobalt-Free LiNiO2 Cathode Materials

Cobalt-free LiNiO₂ cathode materials offer a higher energy density at a lower cost than high Co-containing cathode materials. However, Ni(OH)₂ precursors for LiNiO₂ cathodes are traditionally prepared by the coprecipitation method, which is expensive, complex, and time-consuming. Herein, we report a fast, facile, and inexpensive electrolysis process to prepare a Ni(OH)₂ precursor, which was mixed with LiOH/LiNO₃ salts to obtain a LiNiO₂ cathode material. A combination of advanced characterization techniques revealed that the LiNiO₂ cathode material prepared in this way exhibited an excellent layered structure with negligible Li/Ni site mixing and surface structural distortion. Electrochemical cycling of the LiNiO₂ cathode material showed an initial discharge capacity of 235.2 mA h/g and a capacity retention of 80.2% after 100 cycles (at 1 C) between 2.75 and 4.3 V. The degradation of the cycling performance of the LiNiO₂ cathode material was mainly attributed to the formation of a surface solid-electrolyte interface and a ∼5 nm rock salt-like structure, while the bulk structure of the cathode after cycling was generally stable.

Further Improving Coulombic Efficiency and Discharge Capacity in LiNiO2 Material by Activating Sluggish ∼3.5 V Discharge Reaction

The electrochemical activity of LiNiO₂ at the initial cycle and factors affecting its activity were understood. Even though LiNiO₂ can achieve almost theoretical charge capacity, it cannot deliver the theoretical discharge capacity that would result in low 1st Coulombic efficiency (CE). For different upper cut-off voltages at 4.3 and 4.1 V, the 1st CE barely increases. Given that the H2-H3 phase transition occurs at ∼4.2 V, the low 1st CE is not caused by this phase transition but is a result of the additional 3.5 V discharge reaction, which is kinetically limited and thereby not activated even at a reasonable current density. We found out that the several phase transitions during charge/discharge in LiNiO₂ barely affect the 3.5 V reaction. Under galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT) conditions, LiNiO₂ can achieve ∼250 mAh/g of discharge capacity and 100% CE even with the 4.3 V cut-off voltage by fully activating the 3.5 V reaction. Using neutron diffraction and ⁶Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements, the sluggish kinetics of the 3.5 V reaction can be ascribed to difficult insertion of Li at the end of the discharge because this reaction can be accompanied by the rearrangement of cations or local structure change in the structure. To achieve high discharge capacity in LiNiO₂ with the 4.3 V cut-off voltage, this 3.5 V sluggish reaction should be improved. The finding and understanding underlying the mechanism of the electrochemical activity will stimulate further research on high-capacity Ni-rich layered materials for high-performance Li-ion batteries.

Atomic-Scale Observation of O1 Faulted Phase-Induced Deactivation of LiNiO2 at High Voltage

LiNiO₂ and cobalt-free ultrahigh-Ni content cathodes suffer from rapid capacity loss and severe chemomechanical degradation, especially when operated at high voltages. Here, by cycling LiNiO₂ up to 4.7 V, we report the atomic-scale observation of O1 faulted phase-induced deactivation of LiNiO₂. We find that, although a thin layer of the O3 phase forms on the particle surface by reversible O3 → O1 transformation during discharge, the bulk interior still maintains the O1 faulted phase, leading to rapid capacity loss of LiNiO₂. Moreover, the atomic configuration of the O1/O3 interface is investigated comprehensively. We reveal that the misfit along the c axes of the O1 and O3 phases results in the formation of misfit dislocations, whereby cation mixing is promoted at the dislocation cores. A transition zone with continuous shear along the a-b plane is uncovered between the O1 and O3 phases for the first time. Besides, severe oxygen loss-induced pore formation and concurrent rock salt transformation are also identified.

Theoretical Prediction of Surface Stability and Morphology of LiNiO2 Cathode for Li Ion Batteries

Ni-rich layered oxides are considered to be a promising cathode material with high capacity, and their surface structure should be extensively explored to understand the complex associated phenomena. We investigated the surface stability and morphology of LiNiO₂ as a representative of these materials by using density functional theory calculations. The results reveal that the Li-exposed surfaces have lower energies than the oxygen surfaces, irrespective of the facets, and the Ni-exposed ones are the least stable. The equilibrium morphology can vary from truncated trigonal bipyramid to truncated egg shape, according to the chemical potential, whose range is confined by the phase diagram. Moreover, the electrochemical window of stable facets is found to strongly depend on the surface elements rather than the facet directions. Contrary to the stable Li surfaces, oxygen exposure on the surface considerably lowers the Fermi level to the level of electrolyte, thereby accelerating oxidative decomposition of the electrolyte on the cathode surface.