2022 Annual Meeting

(382a) Slug-Flow Manufacturing of Uniform Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese Precursor Microcrystals for Battery Cathodes

Authors

Mingyao Mou, Virginia Commonwealth University
Arjun Patel, Virginia Commonwealth University
Selma Saleh, Virginia Commonwealth University
Jethrine Mugumya, Virginia Commonwealth University
Sourav Mallick, Virginia Commonwealth University
Michael L. Rasche, Virginia Commonwealth University
M. Parans Paranthaman, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Herman Lopez, Zenlabs Energy Inc.
Ram Gupta, Virginia Commonwealth University
Abstract

The expanding demands for lithium-ion batteries in portable electronic devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) and environmental-friendly vehicles (e.g., electric and hybrid vehicles) drive researchers to improve safety, extend battery life, increase charge capacity and reduce cost.1-3 One of the most advanced material options is layered nickel-rich LiNixCoyMnzO2 (NCMxyz) cathode.2 The cathode material is a key cost driver in lithium-ion batteries, especially cobalt. Typical cost of NCM333 material is $25/kg, or $2,151/pack, or $160/KWhUseable.4 Current batch synthesis methods for cathode materials can suffer from issues of poor mixing and non-uniformity. Driven by those problems, a slug flow based continuous manufacturing process5 was designed to increase the efficiency, reduce the cost improve the synthetic control and produce uniform low-cobalt NCMxyz microparticles towards enhanced performance control with better structural robustness for lithium-ion batteries.

References

(1) Noh, H.-J.; Youn, S.; Yoon, C. S.; Sun, Y.-K. Comparison of the Structural and Electrochemical Properties of Layered Li[NixCoyMnz]O2 (x = 1/3, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 and 0.85) Cathode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries. J. Power Sources 2013, 233, 121–130.

(2) Schipper, F.; Erickson, E. M.; Erk, C.; Shin, J.-Y.; Chesneau, F. F.; Aurbach, D. Review—Recent Advances and Remaining Challenges for Lithium Ion Battery Cathodes. J. Electrochem. Soc. 2017, 164 (1), A6220–A6228.

(3) Wang, G.; Yi, L.; Yu, R.; Wang, X.; Wang, Y.; Liu, Z.; Wu, B.; Liu, M.; Zhang, X.; Yang, X.; et al. Li1.2Ni0.13Co0.13Mn0.54O2 with Controllable Morphology and Size for High Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9 (30), 25358–25368.

(4) Ahmed, S.; Nelson, P. A.; Gallagher, K. G.; Susarla, N.; Dees, D. W. Cost and Energy Demand of Producing Nickel Manganese Cobalt Cathode Material for Lithium Ion Batteries. J. Power Sources 2017, 342, 733–740.

(5) Jiang, M.; Braatz, R. D. Designs of Continuous-Flow Pharmaceutical Crystallizers: Developments and Practice. CrystEngComm 2019, 21, 3534–3551.