Synthesis of spherical LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode materials for Li-ion batteries

Spherical LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 was successfully prepared by controlled crystallization. The preparation started with the spherical coprecipitate of Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3CO3 from NiSO4, CoSO4, MnSO4, NH4HCO3, and NH3·H2O, followed by pyrolysis of Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3CO3 at 600°C for 3 h. The X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the homogeneous cubic (Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3)3O4 was obtained after the pyrolysis. Spherical LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 was obtained by sintering of the mixture of as-obtained (Ni1/3Co1/3Mn1/3)3O4 and LiOH·H2O at 900°C for 6 h in air. As-prepared spherical LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2 presented initial discharge capacity of 162.9 mA h g−1 and capacity retention of 98% at 50th cycle.