Facilitated Phase Transformation for Improved Performance of Earth‐Abundant Disordered Rocksalt Materials
Han‐Ming Hau, Zijian Cai, Shilong Wang, Xinye Zhao, Krishna Prasad Koirala, Tzu‐Yang Huang, Yingzhi Sun, Xiaochen Yang, Lu Ma, Jianming Bai, Bryan D. McCloskey, Chongmin Wang, Gerbrand CederABSTRACT
With the increasing demand for Li‐ion batteries, the reliance on nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) has become a critical concern given the high cost and scarcity of these resources. The recently discovered Mn‐rich disordered rocksalt (DRX) oxides have demonstrated high energy density and capacity retention, positioning them as promising candidates for low‐cost sustainable energy storage materials. These Mn‐rich DRX materials undergo structural transformation into a partial spinel‐like ordering phase (δ) during electrochemical cycling, thereby enhancing the rate capability and capacity retention. In this work, δ is formed by delithiation and heating, which bypasses the need for long cycling to form δ. In addition, we identify the correlation between the degree of transformation and the delithiation level and heating time.