Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a material for cathodes in li-ion batteries called Layered-Rocksalt Intergrown Battery Electrode Material which ensures high capacity, fast charging time and energy transfer, and superior cycling and thermal stability.
The material can be synthesised under ambient atmosphere, easing processing and reducing production costs.
Its thermal stability and minimal gas release reduce fire and explosion risks.
“We demonstrate a new concept of layered-rocksalt intergrown structure that harnesses the combined figures of merit from each phase, including high capacity of layered and rocksalt phases, good kinetics of layered oxide and structural advantage of rocksalt,” say the researchers, “based on this concept, lithium nickel ruthenium oxide of a main layered structure (R3¯3¯m) with intergrown rocksalt (Fm3¯3¯m) is developed, which delivers a high capacity with good rate performance. The interwoven rocksalt structure successfully prevents the anisotropic structural change that is typical for layered oxide, enabling a nearly zero-strain operation upon high-capacity cycling.”