Surface modification with oxygen vacancy in Li-rich layered oxide Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 for lithium-ion batteries

A couple of layered Li-rich cathode materials Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 without any carbon modification are successfully synthesized by solvothermal and hydrothermal methods followed by a calcination process. The sample synthesized by the solvothermal method (S-NCM) possesses more homogenous microstructure, lower cation mixing degree and more oxygen vacancies on the surface, compared to the sample prepared by the hydrothermal method (H-NCM). The S-NCM sample exhibits much better cycling performance, higher discharge capacity and more excellent rate performance than H-NCM. At 0.2 C rate, the S-NCM sample delivers a much higher initial discharge capacity of 292.3 mAh g−1 and the capacity maintains 235 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles (80.4% retention), whereas the corresponding capacity values are only 269.2 and 108.5 mAh g−1 (40.3% retention) for the H-NCM sample. The S-NCM sample also shows the higher rate performance with discharge capacity of 118.3 mAh g−1 even at a high rate of 10 C, superior to that (46.5 mAh g−1) of the H-NCM sample. The superior electrochemical performance of the S-NCM sample can be ascribed to its well-ordered structure, much larger specific surface area and much more oxygen vacancies located on the surface.