Slug Flow Coprecipitation Synthesis of Uniformly-Sized Oxalate Precursor Microparticles for Improved Reproducibility and Tap Density of Li(Ni<sub>0.8</sub>Co<sub>0.1</sub>Mn<sub>0.1</sub>)O<sub>2</sub> Cathode Materials
Mingyao Mou, Arjun Patel, Sourav Mallick, K. Jayanthi, Xiao‐Guang Sun, M. Paranthaman, Sophie Kothe, Ena Baral, Selma Saleh, Jethrine H. Mugumya, Michael L. Rasche, Ram B. Gupta, Herman Lopez, Mo Jiang
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide The microparticle quality and reproducibility of Li(Ni 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 )O 2 (NCM811) cathode materials are important for Li-ion battery performance but can be challenging to control directly from synthesis. Here, a scalable reproducible synthesis process is designed based on slug flow to rapidly generate uniform micron-size spherical-shape NCM oxalate precursor microparticles at 25–34 °C. The whole process takes only 10 min, from solution mixing to precursor microparticle generation, without needing aging that typically takes hours. These oxalate precursors are convertible to spherical-shape NCM811 oxide microparticles, through a preliminary design of low heating rates (e.g., 0.1 and 0.8 °C/min) for calcination and lithiation. The outcome oxide cathode particles also demonstrate improved tap density (e.g., 2.4 g mL –1 for NCM811) and good specific capacity (202 mAh g –1 at 0.1 C) in coin cells and reasonably good cycling performance with LiF coating.