A short process and low-cost preparation of single crystal LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 cathode for lithium-ion batteries

With the rapid emergence of electric vehicles, the current energy density of commercial power Li-ion batteries appears to be insufficient to meet market demand. Recently, the nickel-rich ternary cathode materials, endowed with their remarkable capacity and cost-effectiveness, are regarded as the linchpin materials in surmounting the energy density bottleneck. To highlight, Single crystallization represents an essential approach for further enhancing their cycling stability and rate performance. However, the current fabrication approaches, such as co-precipitation high-temperature solid-phase and molten salt method, are limited in prolonged process times, intricate procedures, and significant pollution. For fundamentally promoting the promising nickel-rich ternary materials, this work directly employed lithium carbonate, nickel oxide, manganese oxide, and cobalt tetroxide as the raw material through a simple one-step high-temperature solid-phase method, achieving the fabrication of polycrystalline and single crystal nickel-rich ternary cathode material (PC-NCM622, SC-NCM622) respectively. As expected, both PC-NCM622 and SC-NCM622 have demonstrated the impressive cycling performance and rate performance. In particular, the SC-NCM622 achieved a high discharge capacity of 140.7 mAh g(-1) after 100 cycles at 0.2 C with a capacity retention rate as high as 92.63%. This study provides a potential route for the high-efficiency synthesis of single crystal nickel-rich ternary cathode materials.