Facile synthesis of high-performance Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54O₂ nanocrystals by a resorcinol formaldehyde gel route as lithium ion battery cathodes

In the paper, we report synthesis of Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54O₂ nanocrystals by a facile resorcinol formaldehyde gel route. The initial polymerization of precursor solution and subsequent high-temperature calcination results in the formation of Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54O₂ nanocrystals. The XRD, SEM, and electrochemical tests show the influence of calcination temperatures on the structures and electrochemical performances of obtained products. The XRD results reveal that the elevated temperature helps to improve the layered structure of the Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54O₂ nanocrystals, and the SEM results demonstrated that the elevated temperature helps to enlargement particle size. For lithium ion battery cathodes, the electrochemical performances can be well determined by corresponding structures. Among them, the 850 °C sample shows an initial discharge capacity of 259.9 mAh g⁻¹ with Coulombic efficiency of 80.1 % at a current density of 40 mA g⁻¹. After 50 cycles, the sample also can retain a capacity of 204.8 mAh g⁻¹ at 200 mA g⁻¹, which is 87.6 % of initial value. Even at a higher rate of 1000 mA g⁻¹, the sample shows a stable discharge capacity of 130 mAh g⁻¹. Maybe, the resorcinol formaldehyde gel route is suitable to prepare lithium ion battery cathode Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54O₂.

The lithium rich layered oxides Li_1.2Ni_0.13Co_0.13Mn_0.54O₂ have been prepared by a facile resorcinol formaldehyde gel route. The optimal sample with the size of 200–300 nm shows high discharge capacity, good cycling stability and rate capability as lithium ion battery cathode.