Atomic layer deposition of lithium zirconium oxides for the improved performance of lithium-ion batteries. Issue 7 (3rd February 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Yongqiang; Wang, Xin; Ghosh, Sujan Kumar; Zou, Min; Zhou, Hua; Xiao, Xianghui; Meng, Xiangbo
• Is Part Of: Dalton transactions. Volume 51:Issue 7(2022)
• Page Start: 2737
• Page End: 2749
• Publication Date: 2022-02-03
• Subjects: Chemistry, Inorganic -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Physical and theoretical -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Inorganic -- Periodicals; 546.05
• DOI: 10.1039/d1dt03600a
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1477-9226

Abstract

Abstract : The newly developed ternary Li x Zr y O coating via a super-ALD process remarkably improves the performance of NMC622 cathodes in lithium-ion batteries. Abstract : Recently there has been increasing interest to develop lithium-containing films as solid-state electrolytes or surface coatings for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and related systems. In this study, we for the first time investigated the thin film growth of lithium zirconium oxides (Li x Zr y O or LZOs) through combining two individual atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes of ZrO2 and LiOH, i.e., sub-ALD of ZrO2 and LiOH. We revealed that the hygroscopic nature of the LiOH component has a big impact on the growth of LZOs. We found that an increased temperature to 225 °C was more effective than an elongated purge to mitigate the adverse effects of physisorbed H2 O. We further discovered that, during the resultant LZO super-ALD processes, the growth of sub-ALD LiOH has been promoted while the growth of sub-ALD ZrO2 has been inhibited. In this study, a suite of instruments has been applied to characterize the LZO super-ALD processes and the resultant LZO films, including in situ quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Furthermore, we applied the resulting LZO films over LiNi0.6 Mn0.2 Co0.2 O2 (NMC622) cathodes in LIBs and demonstrated that the LZO coating films could evidently improve the lithium-ion insertion and extraction rates of the NMC622 electrodes up to 3.4 and 2.6 times, respectively. The LZO-coated NMC622 cathodes exhibited much better performance than the uncoated NMC622 ones.