Carbon nanotubes-coated Ni-rich cathodes for the green manufacturing process of lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the main driving force behind the proliferation of mobile devices and electric vehicles. The production technologies of LIBs have been developed with the aim of lowering the energy cost (US$ kWh⁻¹) and environmental impact while increasing the production efficiency. Here, we report dry-processed Ni-rich oxide cathodes coated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for LIBs. Specifically, LiNi_0.8Co_0.15Al_0.05O₂ (NCA) particles coated with multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) were used to fabricate the cathodes by employing dry-type electrode processing. In addition, the amount of polytetrafluoroethylene binder in the electrode was minimized and the inclusion of conventional carbon black (CB) conductive additives was eliminated. This approach enabled the fabrication of CB-free, dense cathodes with an extremely high NCA content (99.6 wt%) and high electrode density of ~4.0 g cm⁻³. The NCA cathode had a high volumetric capacity of ~821 mAh cm⁻³ at a current rate of 0.5 C (~4.6 mA cm⁻²) and delivered good full-cell cycling performance over 300 cycles (~60% capacity retention). Our results offer a viable way to lower the energy cost and the environmental damage toward next-generation LIBs. Highlights: Ni-rich particles with a CNT-coating were used for dry-processed cathode preparation. The CNTs replace conventional carbon black conductive additives. The CNT-coated Ni cathodes were fabricated with minimal binder content (0.4 wt%). The cathode has good rate and cycling performance with high volumetric capacities.