Perspectives for next generation lithium-ion battery cathode materials

Booth, S.G. and Nedoma, A.J. and Anthonisamy, N.N. and Baker, P.J. and Boston, R. and Bronstein, H. and Clarke, S.J. and Cussen, E.J. and Daramalla, V. and De Volder, M. and Dutton, S.E. and Falkowski, V. and Fleck, N.A. and Geddes, H.S. and Gollapally, N. and Goodwin, A.L. and Griffin, J.M. and Haworth, A.R. and Hayward, M.A. and Hull, S. and Inkson, B.J. and Johnston, B.J. and Lu, Z. and MacManus-Driscoll, J.L. and Martínez De Irujo Labalde, X. and McClelland, I. and McCombie, K. and Murdock, B. and Nayak, D. and Park, S. and Pérez, G.E. and Pickard, C.J. and Piper, L.F.J. and Playford, H.Y. and Price, S. and Scanlon, D.O. and Stallard, J.C. and Tapia-Ruiz, N. and West, A.R. and Wheatcroft, L. and Wilson, M. and Zhang, L. and Zhi, X. and Zhu, B. and Cussen, S.A. (2021) Perspectives for next generation lithium-ion battery cathode materials. APL Materials, 9 (10): 109201. ISSN 2166-532X

Text (FutureCat Roadmap)
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Abstract

Transitioning to electrified transport requires improvements in sustainability, energy density, power density, lifetime, and approved the cost of lithium-ion batteries, with significant opportunities remaining in the development of next-generation cathodes. This presents a highly complex, multiparameter optimization challenge, where developments in cathode chemical design and discovery, theoretical and experimental understanding, structural and morphological control, synthetic approaches, and cost reduction strategies can deliver performance enhancements required in the near- and longer-term. This multifaceted challenge requires an interdisciplinary approach to solve, which has seen the establishment of numerous academic and industrial consortia around the world to focus on cathode development. One such example is the Next Generation Lithium-ion Cathode Materials project, FutureCat, established by the UK’s Faraday Institution for electrochemical energy storage research in 2019, aimed at developing our understanding of existing and newly discovered cathode chemistries. Here, we present our perspective on persistent fundamental challenges, including protective coatings and additives to extend lifetime and improve interfacial ion transport, the design of existing and the discovery of new cathode materials where cation and cation-plus-anion redox-activity can be exploited to increase energy density, the application of earth-abundant elements that could ultimately reduce costs, and the delivery of new electrode topologies resistant to fracture which can extend battery lifetime