Synthesis of hollow peanut-like hierarchical mesoporous LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode materials with exceptional cycle performance for lithium-ion batteries by a simple self-template solid-state method

Abstract Despite being one of the most promising cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries, LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 has been plagued by its low electronic conductivity and Li+/Ni2+ cation mixing, which lead to poor rate capacity and cycle stability. In this paper, hollow peanut-like hierarchical mesoporous LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 has been synthesized by a simple self-template solid-state method, and the influence of calcination times on the electrochemical performances was also investigated. The results suggest that L2 sample calcined at 850 °C for 10 h shows the highest rate capability and superior cycle stability as compared to L1 sample calcined for 8 h and L3 sample calcined for 12 h. The initial discharge capacity of L2 is 155.1 mAh g−1, and maintains 107.8 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at 1 C. Surprisingly, its initial discharge capacity is 144.7 mAh g−1 even when cycled at 10 C, and still retains 97 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles. The significant performance improvement of L2 is ascribed to the hollow peanut-like hierarchical mesoporous structure, which can not only buffer the volume changes during the repeated charge/discharge processes, but also shorten the ion transport distance.