High rate performance of Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 synthesized via co-precipitation method by different precipitators

In the present study, we investigated the effect of three different precipitators (NaOH, Na2CO3 and (NH4)2CO3) on the synthesized layered Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 cathode materials via co-precipitation method. The obtained compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements. The XRD patterns analysis showed that all the resulted Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 materials possess a layered hexagonal structure. It was found that at high discharge rate (2C), the prepared Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 system using Na2CO3 as the precipitator exhibits better cycling performance in the charge–discharge tests compared to others, indicating that Na2CO3 is an optimum precipitator. After 100 cycles at 2C discharge rate in the voltage range from 2.8 to 4.5 vs. Li/Li+, the Li[Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3]O2 system using Na2CO3 as the precipitator retains 97% of its initial discharge capacity.