On the P2-NaxCo1–y(Mn2/3Ni1/3)yO2 Cathode Materials for Sodium-Ion Batteries: Synthesis, Electrochemical Performance, and Redox Processes Occurring during the Electrochemical Cycling

P2-type NaMO2 sodiated layered oxides with mixed transition metals are receiving considerable attention for use as cathodes in sodium-ion batteries. A study on solid solution (1 – y)P2-NaxCoO2–(y)P2-NaxMn2/3Ni1/3O2 (y = 0, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 1) reveals that changing the composition of the transition metals affects the resulting structure and the stability of pure P2 phases at various temperatures of calcination. For 0 ≤ y ≤ 1.0, the P2-NaxCo(1–y)Mn2y/3Niy/3O2 solid-solution compounds deliver good electrochemical performance when cycled between 2.0 and 4.2 V versus Na+/Na with improved capacity stability in long-term cycling, especially for electrode materials with lower Co content (y = 1/2 and 2/3), despite lower discharge capacities being observed. The (1/2)P2-NaxCoO2–(1/2)P2-NaxMn2/3Ni1/3O2 composition delivers a discharge capacity of 101.04 mAh g–1 with a capacity loss of only 3% after 100 cycles and a Coulombic efficiency exceeding 99.2%. Cycling this material to a higher cutoff voltage of 4.5 V versus Na+/Na increases the specific discharge capacity to ≈140 mAh g–1 due to the appearance of a well-defined high-voltage plateau, but after only 20 cycles, capacity retention declines to 88% and Coulombic efficiency drops to around 97%. In situ X-ray absorption near-edge structure measurements conducted on composition NaxCo1/2Mn1/3Ni1/6O2 (y = 1/2) in the two potential windows studied help elucidate the operating potential of each transition metal redox couple. It also reveals that at the high-voltage plateau, all of the transition metals are stable, raising the suspicion of possible contribution of oxygen ions in the high-voltage plateau.