Lithium metal oxides are commonly used as cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries.   One drawback of these materials is their stability over the lifetime of the battery; the particles gradually decompose into the battery electrolyte, poisoning it.  Coating cathode particles with metal oxides, such as Al2O3, using atomic layer deposition has resulted in improved cathode stability.  However, atomic layer deposition is hard to imaging using on an industrial scale due to the toxic nature of many of the precursors to metal oxide layers and the harmful waste that is generated in the process.  We were interested in protecting battery cathodes using surface modification with organic molecules, in hopes that we would increase cathode stability without using harmful chemicals to do so.  This presentation focuses on our attempts to modify LiCoO2 and to grow polymers from initiator-functionalized surface modifying groups and characterization by TGA, XPS, mass spectrometry, and electron microscopy (Figure 1).

Treatment of battery cathodes with surface modifiers for improved electrolyte stability

245th National Meeting (2013)

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