High voltage structural evolution and enhanced Na-ion diffusion in P2-Na2/3Ni1/3-xMgxMn2/3O2 (0 < x < 0.2) cathodes from diffraction, electrochemical and ab initio studies

Tapia-Ruiz, Nuria and M. Dose, Wesley and Sharma, Neeraj and Chen, Hungru and Heath, Jennifer and Somerville, James W. and Maitra, Urmimala and Islam, M. Saiful and Bruce, Peter G. (2018) High voltage structural evolution and enhanced Na-ion diffusion in P2-Na2/3Ni1/3-xMgxMn2/3O2 (0 < x < 0.2) cathodes from diffraction, electrochemical and ab initio studies. Energy and Environmental Science. ISSN 1754-5692

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Abstract

We have presented a detailed investigation of the effects of Mg substitution on the structure, electrochemical performance and Na-ion diffusion in high voltage P2-type Na2/3Ni1/3-xMgxMn2/3O2 (0 <x< 0.20) cathode materials for Na-ion batteries. Structural analysis using neutron diffraction showed that Mg2+ substitutes random Ni2+ on the 2b sites from ordered [(Ni2+/Mn4+)O6] honeycomb units along the ab-plane, leading to an AB-type structure that can be indexed using the P63 space group. Within the sodium layers, high Mg-substituting levels (i.e. x = 0.2) caused a disruption in the typical Na zig-zag ordering observed in the undoped material, leading to a more disordered Na distribution in the layers. Load curves of the x = 0.1, 0.2 materials show smooth electrochemistry, indicative of a solid-solution process. Furthermore, DFT calculations showed an increase on Na-ion diffusivity on the Mg-substituted samples. Enhanced cycling stability was also observed in these materials; structural analysis using high-resolution in-operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction show that such an improved electrochemical performance is caused by the suppression of the O2 phase and switch to the formation of an OP4 phase. Ab-initio studies support our experimental evidence showing that the OP4 phase (cf. O2) is the most thermodynamically stable phase at high voltages for Mg-substituted compounds. Finally, we have provided evidence using diffraction for the x = 1/2 and x = 1/3 intermediate Na+-vacancy ordered phases in P2-Na 2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2.