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[Display omitted] • Highly active nanocrystalline NCM 811 precursor particles were prepared via a microfluidic technology. • The single-crystal NCM 811 material has high a degree of cationic order, excellent elemental distribution, small size (<3 μm). • The as-prepared single-crystal NCM811 material can well balance the cycle and rate performance. Single-crystal LiNi x Mn y Co 1-x-y O 2 (SC-NMC) cathode with electro-chemo-mechanically compliant microstructure is regarded as a promising candidate for high-energy–density lithium ion battery. However, the research of Ni-rich SC-NCM still lags behind its corresponding polycrystalline cathode materials, mainly due to the difficulties in synthesis. Herein, the single-crystal LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 cathode (SC-NCM811) was successfully synthesized by microfluidic technology combined with the solid-state lithiation process. The nano-sized Ni 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 (OH) 2 precursor prepared via microfluidic technology enhances its accessibility to lithium salts, thus exhibiting high chemical activity for lithiation reaction. As a result, the optimized SC-NCM811 cathode shows relatively small-scale grain size (<3 μm), low cation mixing and well layered structure, which is beneficial to electrochemical kinetics and redox reversibility. The electrochemical characterization results further reveal that the optimized SC-NCM811 cathode can well balance the cycle performance and rate capability, showing good electrochemical performance. Overall, microfluidic technology is expected to provide a new strategy for preparing single-crystal Ni-rich cathode materials, which may extend to the commercial application of other cathode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]