Nafion modified NCA cathode synthesis for superior cycling performance of lithium-ION batteries

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2352859 _(Table of contents)

Lithium-ion batteries, due to their high energy density and portable dimensions, play a very important role in today's technology. Although scientific research has provided many different areas for high-performance anode materials, cathode electrodes with their lower capacities and higher costs have always been less researched. With the advancement of battery technology, the research community has recently been carrying out various studies both on the yield and the performance of the cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. One of the three-layer cathode electrode family is nickel, cobalt, and aluminum oxide (NCA) used in the positive electrode of electric cars and portable electronic equipment. The NCA cathode material provides higher capacities, energy and power efficiency, and is widely used in lithium-ion batteries. Besides these specifications, they are found among the most promising positive electrode because of two reasons, lower synthesis costs and promising electrochemical properties. The theoretical capacity of NCA cathode is 279.05 mAh /g. While these cathodes have the advantage of being produced via different synthesis methods, they can cause a decrease in capacity with time and degradation of the battery structure during cyclic tests due to micro and nanoscale cracks in the structures alongside reactions occurring over time. To overcome the main problem of NCA cathode, as established earlier, I focused on the Nafion-coated NCA electrode. It is expected that Nafion coated NCA cathode material may improve ionic and electronic conductivity by covering the surface and prevent the side reactions and thus stabilize the capacity under cycles, which may lead to an increment in the life span of NCA cathode. NCA cathode active material was synthesized by a modified co-precipitation method at 750°C in an air atmosphere. The obtained NCA powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. To understand the surface and structure of the electrode, the pristine and nafion-coated electrodes were also structurally characterized with X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry as well as battery tests that were carried out on both electrodes to understand their cell characteristics. The results were comparatively interpreted for nafion supported NCA cathode electrode and pristine NCA cathode