LiMnO2 cathode stabilized by interfacial orbital ordering for sustainable lithium-ion batteries

Global lithium-ion battery deployments stand poised to grow substantially in the coming years, but it will be necessary to include sustainability considerations in the design of electrode materials. The current cathode chemistry relies heavily on cobalt, which, due to its scarcity and the environmental abuse and violation of human rights during its mining, must be replaced by abundant and environmentally friendly elements such as redox-active manganese. LiMnO2 is a strong contender for sustainable cathodes but cycles poorly because the Jahn–Teller distorted Mn3+ ions destabilize the lattice framework. Here, we report a LiMnO2 cathode design with interwoven spinel and layered domains. At the interface between these two domains, the Mn dz2 orbitals are oriented perpendicular to each other, giving rise to interfacial orbital ordering, which suppresses the otherwise cooperative Jahn–Teller distortion and Mn dissolution. As a result, the heterostructured cathode delivers enhanced structural and electrochemical cycling stability. This work provides a new strategy for interface engineering, possibly stimulating more research on Mn-rich cathode materials for sustainable lithium-ion batteries. The field of battery chemistry must embrace abundant elements such as Mn for improved sustainability. Here the authors engineer the orientation of Mn 3d orbitals, resulting in excellent performance in LiMnO2 cathodes.