Synthesis and performances of Li-Rich@AlF3@Graphene as cathode of lithium ion battery

• Li-Rich@AlF3@Graphene was developed as cathode of lithium ion battery.
• Coating of 2 nm AlF3 does not cause capacity loss but is beneficial to rate capability.
• Concurrent AlF3 coating and graphene wrapping significantly improve Li-Rich performance.

A novel composite of layered lithium-rich oxide with AlF3 and graphene, Li-Rich@AlF3@Graphene, is synthesized as high performance cathode of lithium ion battery in terms of rate capability and cyclic stability. Physical characterizations from X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope, demonstrate that the layered lithium-rich oxide in Li-Rich@AlF3@Graphene is composed of uniform nanoparticles of 100 nm, which are coated with a layer of 2 nm AlF3 and wrapped with graphene sheets. Charge/discharge tests indicate that the naked lithium-rich oxide exhibits poor cyclic stability and rate capability as cathode of lithium ion battery, which can be improved to some extent by the only contribution of AlF3 but significantly by the concurrent contribution of AlF3 and graphene.