High capacity lithium rich cathode material and method of producing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016049642-A1
Application number	US-201414461440-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 18, 2014
Priority date	Aug 18, 2014
Publication date	Feb 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A composite material for a battery electrode and a method of producing thereof have been disclosed. In particular, the composite material is used as a cathode for lithium ion batteries. The cathode material is a lithium-rich cathode material with high specific capacity, high capacity retention rate and high lithium ion diffusion. The cathode material is made by a plurality of clusters, in which each of the clusters comprises metallic nano-platelets arranged in a stratified array.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A composite material comprising a plurality of clusters, wherein each of said clusters comprises metallic nano-platelets arranged in a stratified array.

2 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein each of said metallic nano-platelets comprises lithium and at least two metals selected from the group consisting of manganese, nickel, cobalt, iron, magnesium and aluminum.

3 . The composite material of claim 2 , wherein said composite material is a lithium cathode material which has a first specific capacity of 150-250 mAh/g at 0.5 C.

4 . The composite material of claim 3 , wherein said lithium cathode material retains at least 80% of said first specific capacity at 0.5 C after 100 charge and discharge cycles.

5 . The composite material of claim 3 , wherein said lithium cathode material has a second specific capacity of 120-180 mAh/g at 2 C.

6 . The composite material of claim 2 , wherein said composite material is represented by the compositional formula:
Li[Li x Mn y Ni z Co (1-x-y-z) ]O 2 wherein 0.1≦x≦0.3, 0.4≦y≦0.8, 0.1≦z≦0.4 and 1-x-y-z≧0.

7 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein each of said clusters has a size of 5-25 μm.

8 . The composite material of claim 1 , wherein each of said metallic nano-platelets has a thickness of 1-50 nm and a diameter of 50-200 nm.

9 . The composite material of claim 1 further comprises a plurality of pores, wherein the size and the volume of each of said pores are in a range of 10-100 nm and 0.01-0.2 cm 3 /g respectively.

10 . A composite material formed by a process comprising the steps of
a) providing precursors, wherein each of said precursors comprises a mixture of polyelectrolyte and metal oxide; b) heating said precursors with at least one lithium salt at a predetermined condition,
wherein said polyelectrolyte and said metal oxide are attached together such that said precursors are in a form of nano-flakes or nano-rods clusters.

11 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 10 , wherein said metal oxide comprises at least two metals selected from the group consisting of manganese, nickel, cobalt, iron, magnesium and aluminum.

12 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 10 , wherein said polyelectrolyte is cationic and is selected from the group consisting of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride), poly(acrylamide-co-diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly[bis(2-chloroethyl) ether-alt-1,3-bis[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]urea.

13 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 10 , wherein said predetermined condition is in a temperature range of 500° C. to 950° C. in air.

14 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 10 , wherein said precursors are provided by the steps of:
a) co-precipitating a metal hydroxide precipitate by using a metal salts solution and a precipitating agent; b) forming a suspension solution comprising a mixture of said metal hydroxide precipitate and said polyelectrolyte; c) hydrothermal treating said suspension solution at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined period of time to form said precursors,
wherein said metal salts solution comprises at least two metal salts selected from the group consisting of manganese, nickel, cobalt, iron, magnesium and aluminum, wherein said metal hydroxide precipitate comprises the metals in said metal salts solution, wherein said polyelectrolyte and said metal hydroxide precipitate are in opposite charges and said polyelectrolyte is selected to provide charge attraction for association with said metal hydroxide precipitate but steric hindrance to orient said metal hydroxide precipitate in a predetermined configuration.

15 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 14 , wherein said precipitating agent is selected from the group consisting of metal hydroxides, metal carbonates and ammonium salts.

16 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 14 , wherein said hydrothermal treatment is performed in an autoclave and said predetermined temperature is in a range of 100° C. to 250° C. and said predetermined period of time is in a range of 2 hours to 100 hours.

17 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 10 , wherein the size of said metal hydroxide precipitate is in a range of 1-5 μm.

18 . The composite material formed by the process according to claim 10 , wherein said cluster has the size of 1-5 μm, and wherein each of said nano-flakes has the thickness of 1-50 nm and the diameter of 50-300 nm.

19 . A method for producing composite material comprises the steps of
a) providing precursors, wherein each of said precursors comprising a mixture of polyelectrolyte and metal oxide; b) heating said precursors with at least one lithium salt at a predetermined condition,
wherein said polyelectrolyte and said metal oxide are attached together such that said precursors are in a form of nano-flakes or nano-rods clusters.

20 . The method of producing composite material according to claim 19 , wherein said metal oxide comprises at least two metals selected from the group consisting of manganese, nickel, cobalt, iron, magnesium and aluminum.

21 . The method of producing composite material according to claim 19 , wherein said plurality of polyelectrolyte is cationic and is selected from the group consisting of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride), poly(acrylamide-co-diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly[bis(2-chloroethyl) ether-alt-1,3-bis[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]urea.

22 . The method of producing composite material according to claim 19 , wherein said predetermined condition is in a temperature range of 500° C. to 950° C. in air.

23 . The method of producing composite material according to claim 19 , wherein said precursors are provided by the steps of:
a) co-precipitating a metal hydroxide precipitate by using a metal salts solution and a precipitating agent; b) forming a suspension solution comprising a mixture of said metal hydroxide precipitate and said polyelectrolyte; c) hydrothermal treating said suspension solution at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined period of time to form said precursors,
wherein said metal salts solution comprises at least two metal salts selected from the group consisting of manganese, nickel, cobalt, iron, magnesium and aluminum, wherein said metal hydroxide precipitate comprises the metals in said metal salts solution, wherein said polyelectrolyte and said metal hydroxide precipitate are in opposite charges and said polyelectrolyte is selected to provide charge attraction for association with said metal hydroxide precipitate but steric hindrance to orient said metal hydroxide precipitate in a predetermined configuration.

24 . The method of producing composite material according to claim 23 , wherein said precipitating agent is selected from the group consisting of metal hydroxides, metal carbonates and ammonium salts.

25 . The method of producing composite material according to claim 23 , wherein said hydrothermal treatment is performed in an autoclave and said predetermined temperature is in a range of 100° C. to 250° C. and said predetermined period of time is in a range of 2 hours to 100 hours.

26 . The method of producing composite material according to claim 19 , wherein said

Assignees

• Hk Applied Science & Tech Res
• Hk Applied Science & Tech Res

Inventors

• Jiang Yingkai
• Wang Bin
• Lim Pau Yee
• Fu Man On

Classifications

• H01M4/134

  Electrodes based on metals, Si or alloys · CPC title

• H01M4/364 Primary

  as mixtures · CPC title

• H01M4/525

  of mixed oxides or hydroxides containing iron, cobalt or nickel for inserting or intercalating light metals, e.g. LiNiO2, LiCoO2 or LiCoOxFy · CPC title

• H01M2004/021

  Physical characteristics, e.g. porosity, surface area · CPC title

• H01M4/131

  Electrodes based on mixed oxides or hydroxides, or on mixtures of oxides or hydroxides, e.g. LiCoOx · CPC title