• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.78-89
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• 2022

ANODE-free Li-metal batteries (AFLMBs) operating with Li of cathode material have attracted enormous attention due to their exceptional energy density originating from anode-free structure in the confined cell volume. However, uncontrolled dendritic growth of lithium on a copper current collector can limit its practical application as it causes fatal issues for stable cycling such as dead Li formation, unstable solid electrolyte interphase, electrolyte exhaustion, and internal short-circuit. To overcome this limitation, here, we report a novel dual-salt electrolyte comprising of 0.2 M LiPF₆ + 3.8 M lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide in a carbonate/ester co-solvent with 5 wt% fluoroethylene carbonate, 2 wt% vinylene carbonate, and 0.2 wt% LiNO₃ additives. Because the dual-salt electrolyte facilitates uniform/dense Li deposition on the current collector and can form robust/ionic conductive LiF-based SEI layer on the deposited Li, a Li/Li symmetrical cell exhibits improved cycling performance and low polarization for over 200 h operation. Furthermore, the anode-free LiFePO₄/Cu cells in the carbonate electrolyte shows significantly enhanced cycling stability compared to the counterparts consisting of different salt ratios. This study shows an importance of electrolyte design guiding uniform Li deposition and forming stable SEI layer for AFLMBs.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2011

The research and development of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and electric vehicle (EV) are intensified due to the energy crisis and environmental concerns. In order to meet the challenging requirements of powering HEV, PHEV and EV, the current lithium battery technology needs to be significantly improved in terms of the cost, safety, power and energy density, as well as the calendar and cycle life. One new technology being developed is the utilization of composite cathode by mixing two different types of insertion compounds [e.g., spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ and layered $LiMO_2$ (M=Ni, Co, and Mn)]. Recently, some studies on mixing two different types of cathode materials to make a composite cathode have been reported, which were aimed at reducing cost and improving self-discharge. Numata et al. reported that when stored in a sealed can together with electrolyte at $80^{\circ}C$ for 10 days, the concentrations of both HF and $Mn^{2+}$ were lower in the can containing $LiMn_2O_4$ blended with $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2$ than that containing $LiMn_2O_4$ only. That reports clearly showed that this blending technique can prevent the decline in capacity caused by cycling or storage at elevated temperatures. However, not much work has been reported on the charge-discharge characteristics and related structural phase transitions for these composite cathodes. In this presentation, we will report our in situ x-ray diffraction studies on this mixed composite cathode material during charge-discharge cycling. The mixed cathodes were incorporated into in situ XRD cells with a Li foil anode, a Celgard separator, and a 1M $LiPF_6$ electrolyte in a 1 : 1 EC : DMC solvent (LP 30 from EM Industries, Inc.). For in situ XRD cell, Mylar windows were used as has been described in detail elsewhere. All of these in situ XRD spectra were collected on beam line X18A at National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory using two different detectors. One is a conventional scintillation detector with data collection at 0.02 degree in two theta angle for each step. The other is a wide angle position sensitive detector (PSD). The wavelengths used were 1.1950 ${\AA}$ for the scintillation detector and 0.9999 A for the PSD. The newly installed PSD at beam line X18A of NSLS can collect XRD patterns as short as a few minutes covering $90^{\circ}$ of two theta angles simultaneously with good signal to noise ratio. It significantly reduced the data collection time for each scan, giving us a great advantage in studying the phase transition in real time. The two theta angles of all the XRD spectra presented in this paper have been recalculated and converted to corresponding angles for ${\lambda}=1.54\;{\AA}$, which is the wavelength of conventional x-ray tube source with Cu-$k{\alpha}$ radiation, for easy comparison with data in other literatures. The structural changes of the composite cathode made by mixing spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ and layered $Li-Ni_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ in 1 : 1 wt% in both Li-half and Li-ion cells during charge/discharge are studied by in situ XRD. During the first charge up to ~5.2 V vs. $Li/Li^+$, the in situ XRD spectra for the composite cathode in the Li-half cell track the structural changes of each component. At the early stage of charge, the lithium extraction takes place in the $LiNi_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ component only. When the cell voltage reaches at ~4.0 V vs. $Li/Li^+$, lithium extraction from the spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ component starts and becomes the major contributor for the cell capacity due to the higher rate capability of $LiMn_2O_4$. When the voltage passed 4.3 V, the major structural changes are from the $LiNi_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ component, while the $LiMn_2O_4$ component is almost unchanged. In the Li-ion cell using a MCMB anode and a composite cathode cycled between 2.5 V and 4.2 V, the structural changes are dominated by the spinel $LiMn_2O_4$ component, with much less changes in the layered $LiNi_{1/3}Co_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}O_2$ component, comparing with the Li-half cell results. These results give us valuable information about the structural changes relating to the contributions of each individual component to the cell capacity at certain charge/discharge state, which are helpful in designing and optimizing the composite cathode using spinel- and layered-type materials for Li-ion battery research. More detailed discussion will be presented at the meeting.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.10-19
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• 2007

The mechanical process followed by hydrometallurgical treatment has been developed in order to recover cobalt and lithium from spent lithium ion battery. In the previous study, a citrate precursor combustion process to prepare cathodic active materials from the leaching solution was elucidated. Resynthesis of electrode materials should be more valuable in spent battery recycling. Conventional slurry mixing of $LiCoO_2$ and carbon cannot make uniform distribution, and therefore the cathode cannot reach the theoretical charge-discharge capacity and is easily degraded during the charge-discharge cycling. In this study, ultra-fine $LiCoO_2$ powders has been prepared by modification of the combustion process and fabricated the enhanced cathode by modification of mixing method of $LiCoO_2$ and carbon added.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2006

In this study, the $LiCoO_2/LiNi_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}Co_{1/3}O_2$ mixed cathode electrodes were prepared and their electrochemical performances were measured in a high cut-off voltage. As the content of $LiNi_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}Co_{1/3}O_2$ increased in a mixed cathode, the reversible specific capacity and cycleability of the electrode enhanced, but the rate capability was deteriorated. On the contrary the rate capability of the cathode enhanced, but the reversible specific capacity and cycleability were deteriorated, increasing the content of $LiCoO_2$ in the mixed cathode. The cell of $LiCoO_2/LiNi_{1/3}Mn_{1/3}Co_{1/3}O_2$ ($50:50 wt\%$) mixed cathode delivered a discharge capacity of ca. 168 mAh/g at a 0.2 C rate. The capacity of the cell decreased with the current rate and a useful capacity of ca. 152 mAh/g was obtained at a 2.0 C rate. However, the cell showed very stable cycleability: the discharge capacity of the cell after 20th charge/discharge cycling maintains ca. 163 mAh/g.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.250-255
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• 2019

Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) show promise for improving the lithium ion battery safety. However, due to oxidation of the PEO group and corrosion of the Al current collector, PEO-based SPEs have not previously been effective for use in $LiCoO_2$ (LCO) cathode materials at room temperature. In this paper, a semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) PEO-based SPE was applied to examine the performance of a LCO/SPE/Li metal cell at different voltage ranges. The results indicate that the SPE can be applied to LCO-based lithium polymer batteries with high electrochemical performance. By using a carbon-coated aluminum current collector, the Al corrosion was mostly suppressed during cycling, resulting in improvement of the cell cycle stability.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2012

The structural changes of $Li_{1-x}Ni_{0.5}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.3}O_2$ cathode material for lithium ion battery during the first charge was investigated in comparison with $Li_{1-x}Ni_{0.8}Co_{0.15}Al_{0.05}O_2$ using a synchrotron based in situ X-ray diffraction technique. The structural changes of these two cathode materials show similar trend during first charge: an expansion along the c-axis of the unit cell with contractions along the a- and b-axis during the early stage of charge and a major contraction along the c-axis with slight expansions along the a- and b-axis near the end of charge at high voltage limit. In $Li_{1-x}Ni_{0.5}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.3}O_2$ cathode, however, the initial unit cell volume of H2 phase is bigger than that of H1 phase since the c-axis undergo large expansion while a- and b- axis shrink slightly. The change in the unit cell volume for $Li_{1-x}Ni_{0.5}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.3}O_2$ during charge is smaller than that of $Li_{1-x}Ni_{0.8}Co_{0.15}Al_{0.05}O_2$. This smaller change in unit cell volume may give the $Li_{1-x}Ni_{0.5}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.3}O_2$ cathode material a better structural reversibility for a long cycling life.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.364-367
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• 2006

The decrease of polarization resistance in cathode is the key point for intermediate temperature SOFC(Solid Oxide Fuel Cell). In this study, the Influence of Co substitution in B-site at perovskite PSCM (Pr0.3Sr0.7CoxMn(1-x)) was investigated. The PSCM series exhibits excellent MIEC(Mixed ionic Electronic Conductor) properties. The ASR(Area Specific Resistance) of PSCM3773 was $0.174{\Omega}cm^2\;at\;700^{\circ}C$. The activation energy of PSCM3773 was also lower than other compositions of PSCM. The ASR values were increased gradually during the thermal cycling test of PSCM37773 due to the delamination between electrolyte and cathode materials.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.777-781
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• 2001

$LiCoO_{2}$ thin films have received attention as cathodes of thin film microbatteries in these days. In this study, $LiCoO_{2}$ thin films are fabricated by a sol-gel spin coating method followed by a post-annealing process. The thermal decomposition behaviour of precursor is investigated by TG/DTA analysis. The change of crystallinity, microstructure and electrochemical properties of final films as the drying temperature changes are also studied by XRD, SEM and galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling test. The relationship between the discharge capacity and the drying temperature are intensively investigated in this work.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.172-178
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• 2013

This study examined the electrochemical deposition and dissolution of lithium on nickel electrodes in 1 mol $dm^{-3}$ (M) $LiPF_6$ dissolved in propylene carbonate (PC) containing different 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) concentrations as a co-solvent. The DME concentration was found to have a significant effect on the reactions occurring at the electrode. The poor cycleability of the electrodes in the pure PC solution was improved considerably by adding small amounts of DME. This results suggested that the dendritic lithium growth could be suppressed by using co-solvents. After hundredth cycling in the 1 M $LiPF_6$/PC:DME (67:33) solution, almost no dead lithium has been found from the disassembled cell, resulting from suppression of dendritic lithium growth. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that dendritic lithium formation was greatly affected by the ratio of DME. Raman spectroscopy results suggested that the structure of solvated lithium ions is a crucial important factor in suppressing dendritic lithium formation.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.243-246
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• 2006

The LiCoO2 thin films were prepared on the Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate by spin coating using citrate sol. The citrate sol was spin-coated on substrate and dried at 380oC for 15 min. to evaporate the solvents and remove the organic materials. The as-deposited films were annealed at 750oC for 10 min. in air for crystallization. The X-ray diffraction patterns for the film have been indexed hexagonal system with space group R3m. The active area of LiCoO2 films for electrochemical test was about 11cm2. A Li foil and 1M LiClO4 in propylene carbonate(PC) and ethylene carbonate(EC) (1:1)were used as an anode and an electrolyte, respectively. The galvanostatic charge-discharge test was carried out at constant current density ranging from 5 A/cm2 in the voltage window between 4.2 and 3.0 V. The first discharge capacity of the film is 0.35Ah/cm2-m. The cycling behavior of the LiCoO2 film is also reported.