Presentation Title: Niobium-stabilized Cathodes for Lithium-ion batteries

Abstract:

In order to lower the cost and relieve supply chain challenges, high-nickel cathodes without any cobalt as well as LiFMn1-xFeO4(LMFP) cathodes without any cobalt and nickel have become appealing. However, the high-nickel cathodes suffer from high surface reactivity and capacity fade during cycling while LMFP suffer from low tap density and low practical capacity.

This presentation will first focus on stabilizing the surface of high-nickel cathodes with niobium and enhancing the cycle stability. Modifications with niobium, whether doping or coating, results in improved electrochemical stability, but it is often at the expense of initial capacity. Based on the identification of the origins/mechanisms of this commonly reported decrease in initial capacity and an “activation” region of increasing capacity, a modified cycling protocol that results in a 30% increase in initial capacity in full cells with graphite anodes will be presented.

Then, the presentation will focus on a co-doping of LMFP with Nb and Mg through a co-precipitation reaction, followed by a spray-drying process and calcination. LiNbO3formed with the aliovalent Nb doping resides mainly on the surface, while the isovalent Mg2+doping occurs into the bulk of the particle. Full cells assembled with the co-doped LMFP cathode and graphite anode demonstrate superior cycling stability and specific capacity, while maintaining good tap density, compared to the undoped or mono-doped (only with Nb or Mg).

Bio:

Arumugam Manthiram is currently the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). He served as the Director of the Texas Materials Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Program at UT-Austin for 11 years during 2011 – 2022. He received his Ph.D. degree in chemistry in 1980 from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. After working as a lecturer in chemistry at the Madurai Kamaraj University for 4 years and as a postdoctoral fellow both at the University of Oxford and at UT-Austin, he became a faculty at UT-Austin in 1991. His research is focused on new materials development for batteries and a fundamental understanding of the intricacies involved. He has authored more than 1,000 journal articles with 121,000 citations and an h-index of 169. He has mentored ~ 300 students and postdoctoral researchers, including the graduation of 75 Ph.D. students. He founded two startup companies, ActaCell Energy Systems in 2007 and TexPower EV Technologies in 2019.

He is an elected Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors, Materials Research Society, Electrochemical Society, American Ceramic Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is an elected Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics. He received the Battery Division Research Award in 2014, Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2020, Battery Division Technology Award in 2021, and the Inaugural John B. Goodenough Award in 2023, all from the Electrochemical Society. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2015, Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Centennial Engineering Research Award in 2016, International Battery Materials Association (IBA) Research Award in 2020, and IBA Yeager Award in 2024. He delivered the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize Lecture in Stockholm on behalf of Professor John Goodenough.