Electrode design to mitigate the kinetic issue of cathodes in high energy lithium-ion batteries

Many studies have been recently conducted on Ni-rich cathodes to increase cell capacity. The improvement of cell capacity is reaching its limit by increasing Ni content of a cathode material. In addition, increasing Ni content of a cathode material is unsafe due to gas evolution. Thus, research on Ni-rich cathode should proceed in parallel with the development of cell design, i.e., thickening electrode. However, during a calendering process, upper layer particles with low mechanical strength can be fractured, which is a problem with a thick electrode. To solve this issue, electrodes were designed using single crystalline lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxides (NCM) of high mechanical strength together with existing polycrystalline NCM in the present study. Four types of electrodes were tested to determine the best design for the electrode. Among them, double layer of upper layer with single crystalline and lower layer with polycrystalline (DB) completely prevented particle fracturing in the upper layer while maintaining sufficient tortuosity within the electrode. The reaction within the electrode was much more uniform than in other samples. As a result, DB had higher capacity of 34.6 mAh g−1 than the pristine after 40 cycles and a higher capacity of 50.5 mAh g−1 at 2C.