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Employing the solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) instead of traditional liquid electrolyte is an effective way to develop high safety and high-energy density solid-state lithium batteries. Herein, for the first time, the Ni3B2O3 (NBO) nanorods are incorporated into polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based SPE. Particularly, the optimized NBO-embedded SPE shows a high ionic conductivity of 8.5 × 10−5 S cm−1 at 30 °C, lowering the operating temperature of PEO-based SPE substantially. The corresponding LiFePO4/Li battery demonstrates a high discharge capacity of 154 mAh g−1 after 80 cycles at 0.2 C under 30 °C, with favorable capacity retention of 97.5%. The remarkable properties are attributed to the high ionic conductivity of modified SPE at ambient temperature, which is resulted from the decreased crystallinity and melting transition point, increased movement of PEO chain, and promotion of lithium salt dissociation, as well as the formation of the lithium ion migrating pathway on the interface between PEO and NBO nanorods.

Tin oxides as some of the potential candidates for commercial graphite anodes suffer from serious drawbacks such as poor electronic conductivity and large volume variation during cycling. Dispersing nanostructured SnOx into a carbon matrix may be an effective strategy to solve these problems. In this work, a novel dried plum-like yolk–shell SnOx/C architecture with high specific surface area and superior structural stability is constructed by an extremely facile and scalable spray pyrolysis method in ten seconds. The SnOx nanodots (

The Nb-doped Li[Li0.2Mn0.54-x/3Ni0.13-x/3Co0.13-x/3Nbx]O2 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03) materials are synthesized and characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), charge–discharge measurements, AC impedance spectroscopy as well as cyclic voltammetry. XRD results indicate that Nb-doped Li1.2Ni0.13Co0.13Mn0.54O2 materials exhibit similar XRD patterns to the pristine sample. The results of EDS mapping confirm the homogenous distribution of Nb element in the materials. The Nb substituted for transition metal ions with x = 0.02 is found to be the most effective in improving the cycling properties and in lowering the voltage fade. Particularly, it exhibits remarkably improved cycling performance with the capacity retention ratio of 83% compared with 54% for pristine one after 100 cycles at 1C. Besides, it shows much lower discharge midpoint voltage decay (0.1913 V) than that of pristine sample (0.6951 V) after 100 cycles. The improved electrochemical performance can be attributed to the better structure stability and decreased charge transfer resistance caused by dopant of Nb. These results reveal that Nb-doping can be a promising method for improving the performance of Li-rich material.

Even though Li-rich layered oxide is considered to be a promising cathode material for Li-ion batteries because of the high discharge capacity, it still suffers from many fundamental challenges such as low initial coulombic efficiency, the voltage fading upon cycling and poor rate performance. In this work, lithium-rich layered Li[Li0.2Ni0.13Co0.13Mn0.54]O2 cathode materials are pretreated by NH4F through a facile solid state method to overcome these problems. After pretreating, the spinel phase LiM2O4 coating layer is formed accompanying with the formation of oxygen vacancies caused by NH3 decomposed from NH4F. Compared with the pristine material, materials pretreated by appropriate amount of NH4F present significantly improved electrochemical performances such as high initial coulombic efficiency and improved stability in successive electrochemical cycling, excellent rate capability and suppressed voltage decay. The pretreated material delivers the highest initial coulombic efficiency of 102.2% (NF10) compared to 74.5% of NF0 and the highest voltage retention of 90.6% compared to 86.2% of NF0. The NF0 delivers the best comprehensive performance, with higher initial coulombic efficiency and voltage retention, improved rate performance and capacity stability.

In this paper, SiOx@TiO2/C fibers with TiO2/C composite layer were successfully prepared by one-step electrospinning. Carbon coating can enhance conductivity and act as bulk expansion buffer matrix, while TiO2 coating is beneficial to improving the mechanical stability of composite. Thus, a highly effective and stable conductive network is formed. Benefited from the protection of TiO2/C coating layer, SiOx@TiO2/C fibers demonstrates enhanced electrochemical performance. It exhibites an initial charge capacity of 1125.3 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, and a stable charge capacity of 855.0 mAh g−1 can be retained with a retention of 89.5% after 100 cycles at 0.4 A g−1, which is better than that of M-SiOx (32.3%) and SiOx@C (52.5%) materials. Moreover, SiOx@TiO2/C fibers show a high charge capacity of 640.4 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles cycled at a high current density of 1 A g−1.

Single-crystal nickel-rich cathode materials (SC-NRCMs) are the most promising candidates for next-generation power batteries which enable longer driving range and reliable safety. In this review, the outstanding advantages of SC-NRCMs are discussed systematically in aspects of structural and thermal stabilities. Particularly, the intergranular-crack-free morphology exhibits superior cycling performance and negligible parasitic reactions even under severe conditions. Besides, various synthetic methods are summarized and the relation between precursor, sintering process, and final single-crystal products are revealed, providing a full view of synthetic methods. Then, challenges of SC-NRCMs in fields of kinetics of lithium diffusion and the one particularly occurred at high voltage (intragranular cracks and aggravated parasitic reactions) are discussed. The corresponding mechanism and modifications are also referred. Through this review, it is aimed to highlight the magical morphology of SC-NRCMs for application perspective and provide a reference for following researchers.

Hierarchical mesoporous hybrid NiO–MnCo2O4 microspheres are synthesized by a robust one-pot spray pyrolysis process. The mesoporous hybrid NiO–MnCo2O4 microspheres are comprised of homogeneously dispersed nanoscaled NiO and MnCo2O4 subunits. Specific surface area of the mesoporous hybrid NiO–MnCo2O4 microspheres is determined to be 10.2 m2 g−1 with dominant pore size of 25.8 nm. The as-obtained material is evaluated as anode material for LIBs. The as-prepared hybrid NiO–MnCo2O4 sample demonstrate better electrochemical performances, including higher reversible capacity and superior rate capability, compared with the single-phase NiO and MnCo2O4 samples. These superior electrochemical performances should be mainly attributed to its porous microstructure characteristics and the synergistic effects between the well-dispersed NiO and MnCo2O4 nanophases. The strategy is simple and flexible, so it could be readily generalized to construct other hybrid metal oxides materials.

The x LiVPO 4 F– y Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 composite cathode materials have been synthesized through a soft chemical route with mechanical activation assistance followed by low-temperature calcination. Structural analysis indicates that two phases, i.e. monoclinic Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 and triclinic LiVPO 4 F coexist in the composites. With the addition of LVP, the average particle size becomes smaller. The prepared composite materials show good electrochemical performance, and especially a good cyclic performance, the most suitable x / y ratio being 1:5 where the sample can deliver a reversible capacity of 139 mA h g −1 .

Synthesizing spinel/layer Li-rich materials (SLLRs) is a promising way to improve the electrochemical performance of Li-rich material. In this work, the influence of introducing spinel phase into layered one on the coulombic efficiency is studied by electrochemical method. During CV testing, the composite exhibits no oxidation peak around 2.5–3.0 V when it starts with positive scanning, while demonstrates a reduction peak at ∼2.57 V as it begins with negative scanning. This means the spinel phase formed during the synthetic process is lithium-deficient, consuming lithium from lithium metal anode during discharge in Li-half cell. Charge-discharge results show that this spinel phase contributes to extra capacities when cells are discharged below 3.0 V, leading to a higher initial coulombic efficiency (ICE) of SLLRs in half cells. However, when tested in full cell using graphite as anode, ICE of SLLRs equals to that of Li-rich material while the capacity is lower. This is because that the graphite anode in full cell is unable to provide extra lithium ions and to compensate lithium deficiency of cathode material. Strategy like electrochemical pre-lithiation is suggested to improve the electrochemical performance of SLLRs in full cell.

Submicron LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries was prepared by a spray drying assisted solid-state method. The crystal structure, morphology and electrochemical properties of LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and charge–discharge testing. Single-phase layered LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 was obtained. The material delivered a reversible charge/discharge capacity of 179.8 mAh g−1 at C/10, and showed excellent cycling performance and rate capability.

The monoclinic-type Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 cathode material was synthesized via calcining amorphous Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 obtained by chemical reduction and lithiation of V 2 O 5 using oxalic acid as reducer and lithium carbonate as lithium source in alcohol solution. The amorphous Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 precursor was characterized by using TG–DSC and XPS. The results showed that the V 5+ was reduced to V 3+ by oxalic acid at ambient temperature and pressure. The prepared Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 was characterized by XRD and SEM. The results indicated the Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 powder had good crystallinity and mesoporous morphology with an average diameter of about 30 nm. The pure Li 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 exhibits a stable discharge capacity of 130.08 mAh g −1 at 0.1 C (14 mA g −1 ).