Improvement of the Cathode Electrolyte Interphase on P2-NaNiMnO by Atomic Layer Deposition.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a commonly used coating technique for lithium ion battery electrodes. Recently, it has been applied to sodium ion battery anode materials. ALD is known to improve the cycling performance, Coulombic efficiency of batteries, and maintain electrode integrity. Here, the electrochemical performance of uncoated P2-NaNiMnO electrodes is compared to that of ALD-coated AlO P2-NaNiMnO electrodes. Given that ALD coatings are in the early stage of development for NIB cathode materials, little is known about how ALD coatings, in particular aluminum oxide (AlO), affect the electrode-electrolyte interface. Therefore, full characterizations of its effects are presented in this work. For the first time, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to elucidate the cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) on ALD-coated electrodes. It contains less carbonate species and more inorganic species, which allows for fast Na kinetics, resulting in significant increase in Coulombic efficiency and decrease in cathode impedance. The effectiveness of AlO ALD coating is also surprisingly reflected in the enhanced mechanical stability of the particle which prevents particle exfoliation.