Electrochemical characteristics of electrophoretically deposited nickel antimony oxide anode for lithium-ion rechargeable cells

Lithium‐ion batteries (LIB) are widely used energy storage devices for powering portable electronics, electric transportation, and the grid. In this work, the co-precipitation method synthesizes nickel antimony oxide (NiSb2O6; NSO), a relatively new material for LIB anode. The structure of this material is a tri-rutile phase, wherein the lithium (Li) ions are stored via a conversion-type mechanism. The nickel antimony oxide-carbon black (NSO-CB) electrodes are fabricated using electrophoretic deposition. Ex-situ X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the structural breakdown of NSO into nickel oxide (NiO) and antimony pentaoxide (Sb2O5) after the first discharge. In the voltage range 0.01–2.5V vs. Li+/Li, a stable reversible capacity of 574 mAhg−1 is obtained at a specific current of 0.5Ag-1 after 100 cycles. At a high specific current of 5Ag-1, these electrodes deliver a specific capacity of 370 mAhg−1, equivalent to graphite's theoretical capacity. The full-cell of Li(Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1)O2//NSO-CB delivers a nominal voltage of 2.83V vs. Li+/Li and can retain up to 84.2 % of its reversible capacity after 50 cycles. Therefore, electrophoretic deposition is established as a prospective processing technique to implement tri-rutile type NiSb2O6 as an anode material for LIBs.