A synchronously dual-conductive coating towards enhancing the electrochemical performance of LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2 cathode material

A dual-conductive coating consisting of electronically conductive antimony -doped tin oxide (ATO) and ionically conductive lithium titanate (Li2TiO3, LTO) was applied to LiNi0.8Co0.05Al0.05O2 (NCA) cathode material to enhance its electrochemical performance. Impressively, the dual-conductive coated NCA material delivered a remarkable capacity of 153 mAh g(-1) at a high rate of 5 C, which was 24 mAh g(-1) higher than that for uncoated NCA material. Moreover, the dual-conductive coating resulted in the increase in the cycling stability. In particular, the coated NCA material acquired high capacity retention of 88.56% at 1 C-rate and 60 degrees C after 200 cycles, in contrast to 76.15% retention for bare NCA. An in-depth understanding of the improvement of cyclability of the coated NCA material under elevated temperature was demonstrated emphatically. This dual-conductive coating provides a viable strategy for promoting the performance and applicability for nickel-rich layered cathode materials. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.