Lithium salt preprocessing calcination strategy for a more stable layered structure of lithium-rich manganese-based cathodes

The poor cycling performance of lithium-rich manganese-based (LMR) cathodes limits their practical applications. The stability of the layered structure is closely related to the cycling performance. The high-temperature solid-state reaction between transition metal oxides (TMOs) and lithium salts promotes the formation of the layered structure, which determines the quality of the layered structure. Considering the influence of physicochemical changes of the lithium salt on the formed layered structural stability, in this work, the calcination strategy includes a short period of holding time near the melting point of Li2CO3, referred to as the lithium salt preprocessing calcination strategy, which allows the molten Li2CO3 to be fully contacted with TMOs at relatively low temperatures, alleviating the problem of Li in the thermal decomposition products of Li2CO3 not easily further reacting with TMOs. Compared to the conventional calcination procedure, this new calcination strategy reduces the oxygen vacancy concentration as well as the relative Mn3+ content on the surface of the cathodes, which significantly improves the cycling performance. In addition, the shortening of the constant high temperature calcination time effectively reduces the production energy consumption, which provides a reference for the future efficient and low-cost synthesis of electrode materials with excellent cycling performance.