Ultra Fast Calcination of Lithium Ion Battery Cathode Materials

Due to the need to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions, continuous depletion of fossil fuels, and increasing oil prices, there has been an increased interest in the development of green and renewable technologies. Rechargeable Li-ion batteries (LIBs) have received tremendous attention because of their wide working voltage window, high energy density, and simplified fabrication. LIBs have significant role in electric vehicles, apart from consumer electronics devices, such as mobile electronic devices, laptops, digital cameras. Additionally, LIBs are considered promising energy storage devices for electricity derived from renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind. Compared with the anode materials, the main obstacle in the LIBs is the cathode, and there is an ongoing push towards optimized LIB cathode materials with high performance and cost effectiveness. The cost of cathode material accounts for >20% of the overall cost of LIB. Cathode materials in LIBs are typically multicomponent metal oxides, such as lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), lithium manganese oxide (LMO), and lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese oxide (NCM)2,3,6. In particular, nickel-rich cathode materials such as Li(Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1)O2 (NCM811) have gained increased use due to their high energy density. One of the major obstacles towards generating cost-effective NCM811 cathode material is the long calcination times required to achieve the desired crystalline structure of the cathode materials. In this Phase 1 SBIR proposal, Vuronyx Technologies will collaborate with Professor Sili Deng at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to further develop ultra-fast calcination of lithium ion battery cathode material using flame-assisted spray pyrolysis synthesis (FASP). Preliminary data on NCM811 cathode material show that a modified flame-assisted spray pyrolysis method using low-cost urea as an additive can achieve calcination in merely 20 min. Moreover, since there is no need to ramp up and ramp down the heating before and after calcination, respectively, the total synthesis time of the cathode materials can be one to two orders of magnitude faster than the traditional coprecipitation-lithiation-calcination approach. In Phase 1, the technology will be further scaled-up. The performance of the cathodes will be evaluated in lithium-ion battery, and their performance compared to cathodes manufactured using traditional oven based sintering methods. Further a techno-economic analysis will be performed to understand the cost implications of the FASP, compared to traditional sintering process.