Monitoring the Formation of Nickel-Poor and Nickel-Rich Oxide Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries with Synchrotron Radiation.

The syntheses of Ni-poor (NCM111, LiNi 1/3 Co 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 ) and Ni-rich (NCM811 LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 ) lithium transition-metal oxides (space group R 3̅m) from hydroxide precursors (Ni 1/3 Co 1/3 Mn 1/3 (OH) 2 , Ni 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 (OH) 2 ) are investigated using in situ synchrotron powder diffraction and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The development of the layered structure of these two cathode materials proceeds via two utterly different reaction mechanisms. While the synthesis of NCM811 involves a rock salt-type intermediate phase, NCM111 reveals a layered structure throughout the entire synthesis. Moreover, the necessity and the impact of a preannealing step and a high-temperature holding step are discussed.