Pukyong National University

Received attention for suggesting a completely new doping method that enhances the performance of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries

professor Oh Pil-Gun

A new doping method that can improve the performance of the cathode material of the next-generation secondary battery, lithium-ion battery, has been proposed and is attracting attention from the academic world.

Pukyong National University announced that research on the new ion substitution method to enhance electrochemical reversibility of Co-rich layered materials for Li-ion Batteries, conducted jointly by professor Oh Pil-Gun and research professor Choi Jae-Hong from the department of nanotechnology engineering and professor Jo Jae-Pil from UNIST, was recently published in the internationally renowned journal <Advanced energy materials> (IF=29.698).

In this study, the research team drew attention from the academia by presenting a doping method to secure the commercialization level and stability of ‘Co-rich layered’ material, which has higher energy density than cathode materials for conventional lithium-ion batteries. Doping is a process of adding a small amount of impurities to change the physical properties of a crystal.

The research team doped sodium (Na) on the ‘cobalt-rich layered’ material and designed a material that shows high specific capacity and excellent stability under high operating conditions of 4.5 volts (V) or higher.

Rather than finding conditions that allow the synthesis of existing simple doping through optimization, the research team has developed a new secondary doping method that helps sodium (Na) ions to be doped by partially substituting iron (Fe) ions for cobalt (Co) ions.

Professor Oh Pil-Gun said, “I think that the new doping method we developed this time enables stable elemental substitution of new doping elements, so it can enable the performance of new materials such as nickel (Ni)-based materials and olivine materials as well as the performance of existing cathode materials,” he added, “If this can be applied to the current research on anode direct recycling, it is possible to develop a battery that is less than 80% cheaper and has more than 30% improved energy even with a commercial graphite anode.”

As for the research, the research team carried out with the support of the national research foundation’s basic laboratory project selected in 2020 and the Korea institute of energy technology evaluation and planning's waste anode upcycling remanufacturing for circulation of low carbon resources project for low-carbon resource circulation that started in 2022.