Atomic resolution of lithium ions in LiCoO2

Yang Shao-Horn (1, 2) , Laurence Croguennec (1) , Claude Delmas (1) , E. Chris Nelson (3) , Michael A. O'Keefe (3)

1 ICMCB - Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condensée de Bordeaux
2 MIT-MECHE - Department of Mechanical Engineering [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
3 Materials Science Division [LBNL Berkeley]

LiCoO2 is the most common lithium storage material for lithium rechargeable batteries, used widely to power portable electronic devices such as laptop computers1, 2, 3. Operation of lithium rechargeable batteries is dependent on reversible lithium insertion and extraction processes into and from the host materials of lithium storage. Ordering of lithium and vacancies3, 4, 5, 6 has a profound effect on the physical properties of the host materials and the electrochemical performance of lithium batteries. However, probing lithium ions has been difficult when using traditional X-ray and neutron powder diffraction techniques due to lithium's relatively low scattering power when compared with those of oxygen and transition metals. In the work presented here, we have succeeded in simultaneously resolving columns of cobalt, oxygen and lithium atoms in layered LiCoO2 battery material, using experimental focal series of LiCoO2 images obtained at sub-ångstrom resolution in a mid-voltage transmission electron microscope...

Mots clés: Lithium ions; Batteries; LiCoO2; Transmission electron microscope

Domaines: Matériaux

Yang Shao-Horn, Laurence Croguennec, Claude Delmas, E. Chris Nelson, Michael A. O'Keefe. Atomic resolution of lithium ions in LiCoO2. Nature Materials, 2003, 2 (7), pp.464-467. ⟨10.1038/nmat922⟩. ⟨hal-00184556⟩