Optimizing surface residual alkali and enhancing electrochemical performance of LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂cathode by LiH₂PO₄

LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂(NCA), a promising ternary cathode material of lithium-ion batteries, has widely attracted attention due to its high energy density and excellent cycling performance. However, the presence of residual alkali (LiOH and Li₂CO₃) on the surface will accelerate its reaction with HF from LiPF₆, resulting in structural degradation and reduced safety. In this work, we develop a new coating material, LiH₂PO₄, which can effectively optimize the residual alkali on the surface of NCA to remove H₂O and CO₂and form a coating layer with excellent ion conductivity. Under this strategy, the coated sample [email protected]₃PO₄(P2-NCA) provides a capacity of 147.8 mAh g^-1at a high rate of 5 C, which is higher than the original sample (126.5 mAh g^-1). Impressively, the cycling stabilities of P2-NCA under 0.5 C significantly improved from 85.2% and 81.9% of pristine-NCA cathode to 96.1% and 90.5% at 25 °C and 55 °C, respectively. These satisfied findings indicate that this surface modification method provides a feasible strategy toward improving the performance and applicability of nickel-rich cathode materials.