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Lithiated ternary oxides containing nickel, cobalt, and manganese are intercalation compounds that are used as positive electrodes in high-energy lithium-ion batteries. These oxides undergo changes, when they are stored in humid air or exposed to moisture, that adversely affect their electrochemical performance. There is a newurgency to better understanding of these "weathering" mechanisms as manufacturing moves toward a more environmentally benign aqueous processing of the positive electrode. Delithiation of the oxide and the formation of lithium salts (such as hydroxides and carbonates) coating the surface, are known to occur during moisture exposure. The redox reactions which follow this delithiation are believed to trigger all the other transformations. In this article we suggest another possibility: namely, the proton - lithium exchange. We argue that this hypothesis provides a simple, comprehensive rationale for our observations, which include contraction of the c-axis (unit cell) lattice parameter, rock salt phase formation in the subsurface regions, presence of amorphous surface films, and the partial recovery of oxide capacity during electrochemical relithiation. The detrimental effects of water exposure need to be mitigated before aqueous processing of the positive electrode can find widespread adoption during cell manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphite (TMSPi) has emerged as an useful electrolyte additive for lithium ion cells. This work examines the use of TMSPi and a structurally analogous compound, triethyl phosphite (TEPi), in LiNi0.5Mn0.3Co0.2O2-graphite full cells, containing a (baseline) electrolyte with 1.2 M LiPF6 in EC:EMC (3:7 w/w) and operating between 3.0-4.4 V. Galvanostatic cycling data reveal a measurable difference in capacity fade between the TMSPi and TEPi cells. Furthermore, lower impedance rise is observed for the TMSPi cells, because of the formation of a P- and O-rich surface film on the positive electrode that was revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data. Elemental analysis on negative electrodes harvested from cycled cells show lower contents of transition metal (TM) elements for the TMSPi cells than for the baseline and TEPi cells. Our findings indicate that removal of TMS groups from the central P-O core of the TMSPi additive enables formation of the oxide surface film. This film is able to block the generation of reactive TM-oxygen radical species, suppress hydrogen abstraction from the electrolyte solvent, and minimize oxidation reactions at the positive electrode-electrolyte interface. In contrast, oxidation of TEPi does not yield a protective positive electrode film, which results in inferior electrochemical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrochemical performance of cells with a Li1.03(Ni0.5Co0.2Mn0.3)0.97O2 (NCM523) positive electrode and a blended silicongraphite (Si-Gr) negative electrode are investigated using various electrolyte compositions and voltage cycling windows. Voltage profiles of the blended Si-Gr electrode show a superposition of graphite potential plateaus on a sloped Si profile with a large potential hysteresis. The effect of this hysteresis is seen in the cell impedance versus voltage data, which are distinctly different for the charge and discharge cycles. We confirm that the addition of compounds, such as vinylene carbonate (VC) and fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) to the baseline 1.2 M LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate (EC): ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) (3:7 w/w) electrolyte, improves cell capacity retention with higher retention seen at higher additive contents. We show that reducing the lower cutoff voltage (LCV) of full cells to 2.5 V increases the Si-Gr electrode potential to 1.12 V vs. Li/Li+; this relatively-high delithiation potential correlates with the lower capacity retention displayed by the cell. Furthermore, we show that raising the upper cutoff voltage (UCV) can increase cell energy density without significantly altering capacity retention over 100 charge-discharge cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy density of full cells containing layered-oxide positive electrodes can be increased by raising the upper cutoff voltage above the present 4.2 V limit. In this article we examine aging behavior of cells, containing LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM523)-based positive and graphite-based negative electrodes, which underwent up to∼400 cycles in the 3-4.4Vrange. Electrochemistry results from electrodes harvested from the cycled cells were obtained to identify causes of cell performance loss; these results were complemented with data from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements. Our experiments indicate that the full cell capacity fade increases linearly with cycle number and results from irreversible lithium loss in the negative electrode solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer. The accompanying electrode potential shift reduces utilization of active material in both electrodes and causes the positive electrode to cycle at higher states-of-charge. Full cell impedance rise on aging arises primarily at the positive electrode and results mainly from changes at the electrode-electrolyte interface; the small growth in negative electrode impedance reflects changes in the SEI layer. Our results indicate that cell performance loss could be mitigated by modifying the electrode-electrolyte interfaces through use of appropriate electrode coatings and/or electrolyte additives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]