Porous LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 microsheets assembled with single crystal nanoparticles as cathode materials for lithium ion batteries

The porous micro-nano structure LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 microsheets are prepared via a carbon gel-combustion process with a organic porous polypropylene membrane as hard template, and the microsheets are assembled from two-dimensional nano-scaled sheets comprised with single crystal nanoparticles. As cathode materials for Li-ion batteries, the LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 microsheets deliver excellent electrochemical properties at low or high current rates. For instance, the discharge capacity of the sample is 179.2 mAh g−1 at first cycle, and that is 163.0 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles at 0.5C with 91.0% capacity retention. The sample exhibits a high discharge capacity of 108.1 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at 10C with 82.8% capacity retention. The high discharge capacity and outstanding cycling life could be attributed to the porous micro-nano structure, high crystallinity, small particle size, high contact area of the active electrode materials with the electrolyte, fast lithium ion transport and relatively low charge transfer resistance, etc.