Phase transition

Computer science

Endocrinology

Catalysis

Physical chemistry

Disproportionation

Inorganic chemistry

Engineering

Power (physics)

Chemical engineering

Decoding methods

Medicine

Biochemistry

Telecommunications

Thermodynamics

Phase (matter)

Cathode

Battery (electricity)

Fading

Electrode

Organic chemistry

Anode

Chemical physics

Lithium (medication)

Manganese

Chemistry

Metallurgy

Materials science

Spinel

Physics

Dissolution

Nature Communications

Historically long accepted to be the singular root cause of capacity fading, transition metal dissolution has been reported to severely degrade the anode. However, its impact on the cathode behavior remains poorly understood. Here we show the correlation between capacity fading and phase/surface stability of an LiMn 2 O 4 cathode. It is revealed that a combination of structural transformation and transition metal dissolution dominates the cathode capacity fading. LiMn 2 O 4 exhibits irreversible phase transitions driven by manganese(III) disproportionation and Jahn-Teller distortion, which in conjunction with particle cracks results in serious manganese dissolution. Meanwhile, fast manganese dissolution in turn triggers irreversible structural evolution, and as such, forms a detrimental cycle constantly consuming active cathode components. Furthermore, lithium-rich LiMn 2 O 4 with lithium/manganese disorder and surface reconstruction could effectively suppress the irreversible phase transition and manganese d...

Correlation between manganese dissolution and dynamic phase stability in spinel-based lithium-ion battery