Synthesis of LiCoO2 cathode materials for Li-ion batteries at low temperatures
REN K. 1, ZUO Q. 2, LIU W. 3, SU Y. 4, WANG Y. 5
1 Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China; 2 Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; 3 Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; 4 Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China; 5 Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
It is costly to synthesize cathode materials through the solid reaction of raw materials at relatively high temperatures due to its high energy consumption. Here, we use LiCoO2 as a model material to demonstrate a novel method for synthesizing cathode materials within 30 s at temperatures as low as 260 °C under an AC electric field. The influence of the current density, current retention time and synthesis atmosphere on the prepared LiCoO2 materials was systematically investigated. The results indicate that under an electric field, Co2O3 can instantaneously react with Li2CO3 to form LiCoO2; the acceleration of the synthesis process is due to the introduction of oxygen vacancies into the reaction system under a threshold critical electric field. The obtained LiCoO2 exhibits the same electrochemical performance as that of LiCoO2 synthesized via the conventional thermal reaction method. The proposed synthesis method could provide a cost-effective pathway to synthesize different cathode materials.