Concepedia

Overcoming the Challenges of 5 V Spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 Cathodes with Solid Polymer Electrolytes

Hantao Xu, Huanrui Zhang, Jun Ma, Gaojie Xu, Tiantian Dong, Jinchun Chen, Guanglei Cui

ACS Energy Letters · 2019 · 166 citations · 99 references

TL;DR

LNMO spinel cathodes offer high energy density, thermal stability, safety, low cost, and good rate performance, but their practical deployment is limited by unsuitable electrolytes, prompting interest in solid polymer electrolytes as a promising alternative. This review examines the advantages, ideal requirements, and recent advances of solid polymer electrolytes for LNMO cathodes, aiming to guide rational design and future development of high‑anodic‑stability SPEs for practical high‑voltage LIBs. The authors systematically analyze structure–performance relationships of SPEs with LNMO cathodes and discuss prospects and challenges for these systems.

Abstract

High-voltage spinel manganese oxide LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) that possesses high energy densities, high thermal and electrochemical stabilities, good operating safeties, low costs, and good rate performance has been well recognized to have great potential for power batteries. Despite these merits, unqualified electrolytes are still a big obstacle toward mass production of LNMO-based lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To address this obstacle, solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) have been increasingly considered as promising candidates thus far. Here, we mainly discuss the inherent advantages and ideal requirements of SPEs coupling with LNMO cathodes and then systematically review the recent advances of SPEs from the perspective of structure–performance relationships for the first time. Finally, prospects and challenges of the SPE systems are also discussed. This Review aims to guide rational structure design and future development of state-of-the-art SPEs with high anodic stabilities, boosting the practical applications of high-voltage LNMO cathode-based LIBs.