Atmospheric plasma spray pyrolysis of lithiated nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides for cathodes in lithium ion batteries

Abstract Nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) oxides have been pursued for stable and high energy density cathodes in lithium ion batteries for years. The current synthesis techniques based on co-precipitation and hydrothermal techniques require reaction time scales on the order of several hours making them difficult for scale-up. Here, we present a scalable manufacturing technique based on atmospheric plasma based spray pyrolysis for producing NMC (and Li-NMC) with reaction time scales of the order of minutes. Results show that the chemistry of resulting materials (Ni/Mn/Co ratio) can be controlled from precursor composition. Specifically, the compound LiNi0.2Mn0.6Co0.2O2, is prepared by the atmospheric plasma-assisted synthesis method. The resulting LiNi0.2Mn0.6Co0.2O2 cathode material demonstrates a durable performance with an initial discharge specific capacity of 258 mAh g−1 while maintaining above 210 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles.