An improved carbonate co-precipitation method for the preparation of spherical Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 cathode material

An improved carbonate co-precipitation method was employed to prepare spherical Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 cathode material. The precursor, [Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]CO3, was prepared using ammonia as chelating agent under CO2 atmosphere. The spherical Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 was prepared by mixing the precalcined [Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]CO3 with 7% excess LiOH followed by high-temperature calcination. Compared with the Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 prepared by the conventional carbonate co-precipitation method, the Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 prepared by the improved carbonate co-precipitation method showed larger specific surface area and better electrochemical performance. The initial discharge capacity of the Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 prepared by the improved carbonate co-precipitation method was 162 mAh g−1 and 96.6% of the initial discharge capacity was retained after 50 charge–discharge cycling. However, the tap density of the Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 prepared by the improved carbonate co-precipitation method is lower than that of the Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 prepared by the conventional carbonate co-precipitation method, and the tap densities of both Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 samples are lower than that of the Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 prepared by the hydroxide co-precipitation method.