Lithium-Ion: Cathode

Revealing The Degradation Pathways Of Layered Li-Rich Oxide Cathodes Liu et al. investigate the degradation pathways of layered lithium-rich transition metal oxides LRTMO) as high-energy-density cathodes for lithium-ion batteries. LRTMO suffers from structural instability and irreversible changes during cycling, leading to capacity fading and voltage decay. Using multi-dimensional analytical tools such as X-ray tomography and STEM, the study reveals two distinct degradation mechanisms at different cycling rates.

The degradation of LRTMO follows distinct pathways driven by cycling rate: oxygen defects dominate at low rates, while lattice distortions and ion diffusion constraints take precedence at high rates. Homogenizing reaction kinetics and enhancing structural stability are key to improving performance.

Source: Liu et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 2024

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