Recent Development of Nickel-Rich and Cobalt-Free Cathode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

The exponential growth in the production of electric vehicles requires an increasing supply of low-cost, high-performance lithium-ion batteries. The increased production of lithium-ion batteries raises concerns over the availability of raw materials, especially cobalt for batteries with nickel-rich cathodes, in which these constraints can impact the high price of cobalt. The reliance on cobalt in these cathodes is worrisome because it is a high-cost, rare material, with an unstable supply chain. This review describes the need and feasibility of developing cobalt-free high-nickel cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The new type of cathode material, LiNi1−x−yMnxAlyO2 promises a completely cobalt-free composition with almost the same electrochemical performance as that of the conventional high-nickel cathode. Therefore, this new type of cathode needs further research for its commercial applications.