Atmospheric plasma spray pyrolysis of lithiated nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides for cathodes in lithium ion batteries

•Atmospheric oxygen plasma jet was used in the synthesis of nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides.•Ultra-fast processing time and ease of upscaling makes it attractive.•LiNi0.2Mn0.6Co0.2O2 delivered initial capacity of 258 mAh/g, and 210 mAh/h after 50 cycles.•The process uses inexpensive precursors and does not need any post-synthesis treatment for obtaining crystalline materials.

Nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) oxides have been pursued for stable and high energy density cathodes in lithium ion batteries for years. The current synthesis techniques based on co-precipitation and hydrothermal techniques require reaction time scales on the order of several hours making them difficult for scale-up. Here, we present a scalable manufacturing technique based on atmospheric plasma based spray pyrolysis for producing NMC (and Li-NMC) with reaction time scales of the order of minutes. Results show that the chemistry of resulting materials (Ni/Mn/Co ratio) can be controlled from precursor composition. Specifically, the compound LiNi0.2Mn0.6Co0.2O2, is prepared by the atmospheric plasma-assisted synthesis method. The resulting LiNi0.2Mn0.6Co0.2O2 cathode material demonstrates a durable performance with an initial discharge specific capacity of 258 mAh g−1 while maintaining above 210 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles.

Graphical abstractPlasma oxidized nickel manganese cobalt oxide nanoparticles.Download high-res image (76KB)Download full-size image