Tungsten Infused Grain Boundaries Enabling Universal Performance Enhancement of Co-Free Ni-Rich Cathode Materials

Ni-rich cathode materials suffer from poor capacity retention due to micro-cracking and interfacial reactivity with electrolyte. Addition of tungsten (W) to some Ni-rich materials can improve capacity retention. Here, a WO3 surface coating is applied on Ni-rich hydroxide precursors before heating with lithium hydroxide. After heating in oxygen, Ni-rich materials with any of the commonly used dopants (magnesium, aluminum, manganese, etc.) show a …