Enhanced electrochemical performance of Li-rich manganese layered oxide Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 by surface modification with Al2O3-ZrO2 for lithium-ion battery

In this work, the Li-rich manganese layered oxide Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 (LMNC in short) is coated with a novel Al2O3-ZrO2 layer for lithium-ion battery application. Three modified LMNC materials including AZ1, AZ2 and AZ3 with different mass ratios between Al2O3-ZrO2 coating and LMNC are successfully prepared. Al2O3-ZrO2 coating layer inhibits the side reactions, restricts the transformation of layered structure and enhances the stability of LMNC. The coated LMNC shows the most excellent electrochemical performance for application in lithium-ion battery, when the mass ratio between Al2O3-ZrO2 coating layer and LMNC is 2 wt% (AZ2). The specific discharge capacity of AZ2 (111.0 mAh g(-1)) is significantly higher than that of pristine LMNC (i.e., AZ0) (85.6 mAh g(-1)) at the 10 C rate. Moreover, the AZ2 shows outstanding durability during the 200 times cycling charge and discharge tests at 1 C, whose capacity retention rate and voltage decay are 81.6% and 370.1 mV after 200 cycles, respectively. Specifically, the voltage decay rate of AZ2 is much lower than those of most reported Li-rich manganese layered oxides. Therefore, the as-prepared AZ2 cathode material with excellent electrochemical performance has a bright future for lithium-ion battery application.