Authors: Rui Xia, Kangning Zhao, Liang‐Yin Kuo, Lei Zhang, Daniel M. Cunha, Yang Wang, Sizhao Huang, Jie Zheng, Bernard Boukamp, Payam Kaghazchi, Congli Sun, Johan E. ten Elshof, Mark Huijben
Published: 2021-11-15
Source: Full article
AbstractFast charging is one of the key requirements for next‐generation lithium‐ion batteries, however, lithium‐ion diffusion rates of typical electrode materials are limited. Nanosizing of active electrode material is a common strategy to increase the effective lithium‐ion diffusion transport rate, but it also decreases the volumetric energy/power density and stability of the battery. In this work, nickel niobate NiNb2O6 is demonstrated for the first time as a new intrinsic high‐rate anode material for lithium‐ion batteries without the requirement of realizing nano‐architectures. The NiNb2O6 host crystal structure exhibits only a single type of channel for lithium‐ion intercalation and can be fully lithiated with a capacity of about 244 mAh g−1 at low current densities. Interestingly, a high diffusion coefficient of 10−12 cm2 s−1 at 300 K enables fast (dis)charging at high current densities resulting in high capacities of 140 and 50 mAh g−1 for 10 and 100C respectively. The minimal volume change during lithiation is the origin of the stable reversible lithiation process in NiNb2O6 and leads to 81% capacity retention after 20 000 cycles at 100C. Finally, full cell systems against LiFePO4 and Li[Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1]O2 (NCM811) cathodes demonstrate the promising energy storage performance of nickel niobate anodes in practical battery devices.