The advancement of energy storage and conversion technology is one of the main research topics in today’s world. In this regard, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with their greater energy density and longer cycle life have generated great interest in portable electronics and electric vehicles. In most of the cases, cathode materials determine the capacity and they are the limiting materials for the battery performance. Among the cathode materials, Co-rich ones, were the preferred materials as they have relatively better electrochemical cycling. However, the cost of cobalt forces the industry to alternative materials. In this regard, Nickel-rich layered cathodes can be good alternatives to this issue. Within the Ni-rich cathode family, LiNi0.80Co0.15Al0.05O2 (NCA) is a promising candidate for its good thermal stability and lower cobalt content. Moreover, NCA has a theoretical capacity of 279 mAh/g and a high usable discharge capacity of about 200 mAh/g. In addition to that, it has a long storage calendar life. However capacity fade is a known problem because of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) generation and micro-crack growth at the grain boundaries. There are also some side reactions caused by the electrolyte degradation and results in NCA dissolution. Coating NCA with a protective layer can be an effective method against these side reactions. In the literature, inorganic additives like, TiO2, AlF3, Al2O3, SiO2, and AlPO4 as a coating. Different from the literature, in this study, we utilized Nafion as a protective layer (Figure 1). This layer also facilitates the Li+ ion transfer. The final composite structure showed significantly better electrochemical stability and even higher capacities than previous reports.

Ion-conducting protective layer for NCA cathodes to enhance the capacity and stability of Li-ion batteries

2019 Fall National Meeting

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